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FLETCHER 
OF SALTOUN 



FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES 

The following Volumes are now ready — 

THOMAS CARLYLE. By Hector C. Macpherson 

ALLAN RAMSAY. By Oliphant Smeaton 

HUGH MILLER. By W. Keith Leask 

JOHN KNOX. By A. Taylor Innes 

ROBERT BURNS. By Gabriel Setoun 

THE BALLADISTS. By John Geddie 

RICHARD CAMERON. By Professor Herkless 

SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By Eve Blantyre Simpson 

THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. Garden Blaikie 

JAMES BOSWELL. By W. Keith Leask 

TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By Oliphant Smeaton 

FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. Omond 



LLETCHER 
OFSALTOUN 

G : w : T 

OMOND 



FAMOUS 

scots: 

SERIES 




PUBUSfTED B 
CHARLES •^s<d^ 
SCRIBNER'S SONS 
Kl^rr NEW YORK 







8299 



PREFACE 

In 1792 the eleventh Earl of Buchan published a 

volume of Essays on the Life and Writ higs of Fletcher 

of Saltoun and the Poet Thomson. It contains our only 

biography of Fletcher ; but, though founded on original 

sources of information, it is frequently inaccurate, and 

must, therefore, be used with great caution. The 

author of the article on Fletcher in the third edition of 

the Encyclopcsdia Britannica ijl^i) mentions that the 

tenth Earl Marischal, when Governor of Neuchatel, 

suggested to Rousseau that he should write the life of 

Fletcher. Rousseau was furnished with mss. for this 

purpose; but nothing came of it, and most of the 

materials on which that work was to have been founded 

seem to have been lost. Some interesting documents, 

however, are preserved in the University Library at 

Edinburgh, including mss. used by Lord Buchan, and a 

letter to him from Lord Hailes, who had evidently been 

applied to for information. (Laing mss. 364.) 

Mr. F. Espinasse refers to most of the printed 

authorities for the life of Fletcher, in a succinct but 

5 



6 PREFACE 

exhaustive article in the Dictionary of National Bio- 
graphy^ vol. xix. p. 292 ; and in the Scottish Review for 
July 1893 (vol. xxii. p. 61) there is a very interesting 
paper on * Andrew Fletcher, the Scottish Patriot,' from 
the pen of Mr. J. R. Donaldson. Many allusions to 
Fletcher's conduct as a member of the last Scottish 
Parliament are to be found in the Godolphin Corre- 
spondence in the British Museum. (Add. mss. 28,055.) 

I have to thank Mr. Fletcher of Saltoun for allowing 
me to consult a volume of Recollections respecting the 
Family of Saltoun^ and for an opportunity of examin- 
ing the library and visiting the scenes of Fletcher's 
early life. 

Mr. E. Gordon Duff, librarian of the John Rylands 
Library, Manchester, and Mr. R. A. S. Macfie have 
for some time been engaged in compiling a Biblio- 
graphy of Fletcher; and I desire to thank them for 
their kindness in placing their MS. unreservedly in my 
hands. There is considerable doubt respecting the 
authorship of several pamphlets which have been attri- 
buted to Fletcher, as well as regarding the places at 
which his works were printed ; and if this Bibliography 
appears in print, it will be found most valuable by all 
who take an interest in his writings. 

G. W. T. O. 

Oxford, March 1897. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Fletcher's Birth and Education — Travels Abroad — A Member 

of the Scottish Parliament — Goes to the Continent . . 9 

CHAPTER n 
The Whig Plot — Comes to England with Monmouth — Shoots 
Dare — Is found guilty of High Treason and attainted — 
The Estate of Saltoun forfeited 20 

CHAPTER HI 
Adventures in Spain — Serves in Hungary against the Turks — 
Returns to Scotland at the Revolution — Reforms in the 
Scottish Parliament — Saltoun Restored — Darien . , 37 

CHAPTER IV 

Fletcher's Political Writings — * A Discourse on Militias ' — The 
Affairs of Scotland — Supports Slavery as a Cure for 
Mendicancy — Attacks the Partition Treaty • • .49 

CHAPTER V 
The First Session of the Union Parliament — Fletcher proposes 
his Twelve Limitations on the Crown — An Act of Security 
— The Supplies are refused . . . • • .61 

CHAPTER VI 
*A Conversation concerning a Right Regulation of Govern- 
ment for the Common Good of Mankind ' , . t 85 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII 

PAGE 

A New Ministry in Scotland — Scenes in the Parliament House 
— The Act of Security becomes Law — England retaliates 
by passing the Alien Act 96 

CHAPTER VIII 

A Ministerial Crisis, and a Change of Government in Scotland 
— The Government is defeated — The Limitations again — 
Fletcher's Duel with Roxburghe — The Act for a Treaty 
of Union passed 108 

CHAPTER IX 

The Union Commission at Westminster — The Act of Union 
passed — Belhaven's Speech — Violent Conduct of Fletcher 
and other Members during the Debates . , . .129 

CHAPTER X 

Arrest of Fletcher— His Release — The Jacobite Prisoners of 
1708 — Death of Belhaven — Fletcher retires into Private 
Life — Conversations with Wodrow — His Death — Views 
of his Character . . . t t • t .142 



CHAPTER I 

Fletcher's Birth and Education — Travels Abroad— A Member of 
the Scottish Parliament — Goes to the Continent. 

Andrew Fletcher, eldest son of Sir Robert Fletcher 
of Saltoun, in the county of Haddington, and of 
Catherine, daughter of Sir Henry Bruce of Clack- 
mannan, was born in the year 1653. He was educated 
either at home or in the parish school of Saltoun until 
1665. On the thirteenth of January in that year his 
father died, having, on his deathbed, intrusted the 
charge of educating his son to Burnet, the future Bishop 
of Salisbury, who had just been presented to the living 
of Saltoun, of which Sir Robert was the patron. Burnet's 
first published work was, A Discourse on the Memory of 
that rare and truly virtuous person^ Sir Robert Fletcher 
of Saltoun^ written by a gentleman of his acquaintance. 
This volume, which the author calls, ' The rude essay 
of an unpolished hand,' contains almost nothing about 
either Sir Robert or his son ; and, in fact, Burnet does 
little more than use his patron as a peg on which to 
hang a string of platitudes. But from the moment Burnet 
became minister of Saltoun, Andrew Fletcher lived in 

9 



lo FAMOUS SCOTS 

an atmosphere of learning. There was a hbrary belong- 
ing to the Church of Saltoun, founded by one of the 
parish ministers, and added to by Burnet and the 
Fletcher family ; and among this collection of books we 
may fancy Burnet and his pupil spending many hours. 
There were two catalogues, one of them written by Sir 
Robert Fletcher; and in August 1666 w^e find the 
* Laird of Saltoun,' then thirteen years of age, visiting 
the library, comparing the books with the catalogues, 
and gravely reporting to the Presbytery of Haddington 
that Burnet was taking proper care of the books. 

These books were chiefly theological, but among them 
were The Acts of the Second Parliament of King Charles^ 
from which Burnet might teach the boy many useful 
lessons, and the * Book of the Martyrs, 3 vol. in folio, 
gifted by my Lady Saltoun.' For the support of this 
library Burnet left a sum of money; and it is still 
known in the district as * Bishop Burnet's Library.' 
The books are preserved in a room in the manse of 
Saltoun under the charge of the parish minister, and 
prominent among them are a fine foHo edition of 
Burnet's own works, and a black-letter copy of Foxe's 
Book of Martyrs. 

Of Fletcher's earliest days little is recorded, except 
that he was, from infancy, of a fiery but generous 
nature. According to family tradition Burnet imbued 
his pupil *with erudition and the principles of free 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN ii 

government ' ; and perhaps it is not mere fancy which 
leads us to picture the keen, eager, excitable boy 
reading the Book of Martyrs^ and listening to Burnet, 
who describes his system of education in the account 
which he gives of the manner in which he taught the 
Duke of Gloucester in after years. ' I took,' he says, 
'to my own province, the reading and explaining the 
Scriptures to him, the instructing him in the Principles 
of Religion and the Rules of Virtue, and the giving him 
a view of History, Geography, Politics, and Government/ 
History, politics, and the theory of government— these 
were, all through his life, Andrew Fletcher's favourite 
studies; and we cannot doubt that Burnet not only 
drilled him thoroughly in Greek and Latin, as he 
certainly did, but also fostered that taste for letters 
from which not even the turmoil of politics could ever 
wean him. 

Fletcher also owed much to the influence of his 
mother ; and to this he himself, in his later years, bore 
testimony. 'One day,' it is recorded in the private 
family history, * after Andrew Fletcher had entertained 
his company with a concert of music, and they w^ere 
walking about in the hall at Saltoun, a gentleman fixed 
his eye on the picture of Katherine Bruce, where the 
elegant pencil of Sir Peter Lely had blended the softness 
and grace that form the pleasing ornaments of the sex. 
"That is my mother," says Andrew; "and if there is 



12 FAMOUS SCOTS 

anything in my education and acquirements during the 
early part of my life, I owe them entirely to that 
woman." ' 

Burnet remained at Saltoun until November 1669, 
when he w^as appointed Professor of Divinity at Glasgow. 
It is, however, possible that Fletcher was sent to the 
University of Edinburgh before that date, as the name 
of an Andrew Fletcher occurs in the University Register 
for the year 1668. This may not have been young 
Fletcher of Saltoun ; but in any case we would suppose, 
from the acquirements which he afterwards displayed, 
that he had received a University education, though 
this is not to be gathered from Lord Buchan, who says : 
'When he had completed his course of elementary 
studies in Scotland, under the care of his excellent 
preceptor, he was sent to travel on the Continent.' But 
as Fletcher was only fifteen when Burnet left Saltoun, it 
seems more probable that he was sent to the University 
of Edinburgh for a year or two before starting on the 
* Grand Tour.' 

Of his travels nothing appears to be known ; but he 
doubtless followed the route usually taken, through 
France, Germany, and Italy, by young Scotsmen of 
family, who, it need scarcely be said, were almost 
always sent to finish their education by visiting foreign 
countries. Fletcher knew French, but with regard to 
Italian Lord Buchan mentions a curious fact. *He 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 13 

had,' says Lord Buchan, 'acquired the grammatical 
knowledge of the Italian so perfectly as to compose and 
publish a treatise in that language ; yet he could not 
speak it, as he found when having an interview with 
Prince Eugene of Savoy, and being addressed in that 
language by the Prince, he could not utter a syllable to 
be understood.' 

Having returned to Scotland, he was, in June 1678, 
sent as one of the members for Haddingtonshire to the 
Convention of Estates which met that summer. His 
colleague was Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, a fine 
gentleman of the old school, but one of the most 
virulent Presbyterians even of that day. It is to be 
observed that the rolls of parliament have the name of 
'James Fletcher of Saltoun.' It appears, from the 
Official Return of Members (pubhshed in 1878) that the 
original commissions for Haddingtonshire have been 
lost ; but there is no doubt whatever that the rolls are 
wrong, and the name 'James' appears by a mistake 
instead of ' Andrew.' 

This Convention of Estates, in which Lauderdale 
was Lord High Commissioner, sat from the 26th of 
June to the nth of July. It was summonea for the 
purpose of voting money to maintain the troops who 
were to be employed in suppressing the conventicles or 
field meetings of the Presbyterians; and a supply of 
thirty thousand pounds a year, for five years, was 



14 FAMOUS SCOTS 

granted. The Opposition, led by Hamilton, could 
muster only thirty-nine votes, while the supporters of 
the Government numbered one hundred, including, of 
course, all the Bishops. Among the thirty-nine was 
Fletcher, who thus, from the outset of his public life, 
took his stand against the arbitrary system on which 
Scotland was governed until the Revolution. 

During this short session an incident took place 
which was very characteristic of Fletcher. The Estates 
had ordered that none but members were to be admitted 
to the Parliament House. Fletcher's brother Henry, 
however, had managed to slip in. He was discovered, 
fined, and sent to the Tolbooth. So next day Andrew 
Fletcher 'pitched on little William Tolemache as no 
member,' as Lord Fountainhall puts it. On this 
Lauderdale was forced to declare that he was one of 
his servants, whom he was entitled to bring into the 
House. This is the first instance of that hot, perti- 
nacious spirit which Fletcher so often displayed on the 
floor of the Parliament House; nor, trifling as the 
incident was, must it be forgotten that it required some 
courage to face Lauderdale, whose easygoing, plausible 
manner concealed a most vindictive spirit. 

The Government had now resolved to rule Scotland 
by the sword ; and their policy was to turn the militia, 
as far as possible, into a standing army. The Scottish 
Privy Council was ordered to draw five thousand foot 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 15 

and five hundred horse from the militia, and quarter 
them at the expense of the heritors in all the counties ; 
and instructions were given that, in addition to the 
oaths of allegiance and supremacy, the soldiers should 
be called upon to swear *to maintain the present 
Government in Church and State, as it is now established 
by law, and to oppose the damnable principle of taking 
up arms against the King, or those commissionate by 
him.' In other words, the militia of Scotland, where a 
majority of the people were opposed to the Church 
established by law, were to swear that they would 
maintain the principles of passive obedience and non- 
resistance. And this oath was to be taken, * not in the 
ordinary way that such military oaths used to be exe- 
cuted, by drawing up the troop or company together in 
a body, but that every soldier, one after another, shall 
by himself swear the same.' 

Of the 'New Model,' as, borrowing the phraseology 
of the Commonwealth, the Ministers called the troops, 
two hundred foot and forty-six horse were quartered 
upon Haddingtonshire ; and this led Fletcher into 
collision with the Government. At the end of July 1680, 
along with Sinclair of Stevenston and Murray of Black- 
barrony, he was accused, before the Privy Council, of 
seditiously obstructing the King's Service, 'in putting 
the Act of the Privy Council to execution for levying 
the five thousand five hundred men out of the militia,' 



1 6 FAMOUS SCOTS 

It was expected that the accused, who, says Lord 
Fountainhall, stated 'difficulties and scruples,' would 
be fined and imprisoned, but they escaped with a 
rebuke. In January of the following year Lord Yester, 
Fletcher, and ten other gentlemen of Haddingtonshire, 
presented a petition to the Privy Council, ' complaining 
of the standing forces, ther quartering upon them.' 
This petition was extremely resented, because it spoke 
of the quartering of soldiers on the country, in time of 
peace, as contrary to law, and seemed to reflect upon 
the Government. 

At the general election of 1681 there was a double 
return from Haddingtonshire. The Lairds of Saltoun 
and Ormiston were returned by those freeholders who 
opposed the Government, and Hepburn of Humbie and 
Wedderburn of Gosford by the Ministerial party. It is 
said that when the matter came before the committee 
on disputed elections. Bishop Paterson of Edinburgh, 
who was chairman, proposed that ' for the sake of serving 
the King,' some votes which had been given in favour of 
Fletcher should not be counted. But this dishonest 
advice was not taken; the case was fairly tried, and 
Fletcher and Cockburn were declared to have been duly 
elected. 

The Duke of York was Commissioner in this Parlia- 
ment, which met on the 28th of July 168 1. The two 
great measures of the session were the 'Act acknov/- 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 17 

ledging and asserting the Right of Succession to the 
Imperial Crown of Scotland,' which was passed for the 
purpose of securing the succession of the Duke of York, 
and the famous 'Act anent Religion and the Test.' 

Both of these measures were strenuously opposed by 
Fletcher, who is said to have WTitten a number of 
private letters to members of the Parliament, imploring 
them to vote against the Succession Act, on the ground 
that the Duke was both a Roman CathoHc and a 
tyrant. 

The Test Act was, in spite of its vast importance, 
brought in and passed in the course of a single day ; 
but at least one amendment was moved by Fletcher. 
' Mr. Fletcher of Saltoun,' says Dalrymple, ' after long 
opposing the bill, with all the fire of ancient eloquence, 
and of his own spirit, made a motion which the Court 
party could not, in decency, oppose ; that the security 
of the Protestant Religion should be made a part of 
the Test.' 

The new clause was prepared by Sir James Dalrymple, 
then Lord President of the Court of Session, who so 
framed it that the * Protestant Religion ' was defined as 
that set forth in the Old Scots Confession of Faith of 
1567, which was inconsistent with Episcopacy, and also 
allowed the lawfulness of resistance. 'That was a 
book,' says Burnet, ' so worn out of use, that scarce any 
one in the whole Parliament had ever read it. None 

B 



i8 FAMOUS SCOTS 

of the Bishops had, as appeared afterwards.' The 
result was that Fletcher's amendment, as framed by 
Dalrymple, became part of the Act, all the Bishops 
agreeing to it. 

Fletcher also resisted the monstrous and unconstitu- 
tional clause which compelled the county electors, on 
pain of forfeiting the franchise, to swear that they would 
never attempt to ' bring about,' as the statute puts it, 
* any change or alteration either in church or state, as it 
is now established by the laws of this Kingdom.' There 
was a division on this question. No lists remain to 
show how the members voted ; but the following protest 
is inscribed on the rolls of Parliament : ' That part of 
the Act — If the Test should be put to the Electors of 
Commissioners for Shires to the Parliament, having 
been put to the vote by itself, before the voting and 
passing of the whole Act ; and the same being carried 
in the Affirmative, the Laird of Saltoun and the Laird 
of Grant, having voted in the negative, desired their 
dissent might be marked.' 

Fletcher had now incurred the implacable enmity of 
the Duke of York, who, says Mackay, * would not forgive 
his behaviour in that Parliament ' ; and he was, more- 
over, soon involved once more in trouble with the 
Privy Council. The Estates had voted money for the 
public service ; and Fletcher was named as one of the 
Commissioners of Supply for Haddingtonshire. Part of 



• FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 19 

the Commissioners' duty was to arrange for the troops 
which were quartered on the country; and in April 
1682 the Lord Advocate accused them before the Privy 
Council for not meeting with the Sheriff-Depute, to set 
prices on corn and straw, grass and hay, for the soldiers' 
horses ; ' or at least for making a mock act, in setting 
down prices, but not laying out the localities where the 
forces may be served with these necessaries.' In short, 
the Laird of Saltoun and the Commissioners of Supply 
did all they could to thwart and annoy the Govern- 
ment. 

' After much trouble and pains,' in the words of Lord 
Fountainhall, the gentlemen of East Lothian consented 
to fix store-houses and magazines in the county ; but in 
a short time Fletcher came to the conclusion that he 
could no longer remain in Scotland. He accordingly 
went to London, perhaps to consult Burnet on the 
situation, and thence made his way to the Continent. 



CHAPTER II 

« 

The Whig Plot — Comes to England with Monmouth— Shoots Dare — 
Is found guilty of High Treason and attainted — The Estate of 
Saltoun forfeited. 

Fletcher's movements cannot be accurately traced for 
some time after he left Scotland. Argyll wrote to him, 
on several occasions, for the purpose of enHsting his 
services against the Government ; but he did not answer 
the letters. At last, however, when he was at Brussels, 
he heard that the English Ministers had privately re- 
quested the Marquis de Grand to have him apprehended. 
This seems to have irritated him ; for he went to London 
and joined the circle of Whigs who were then engaged 
in preparing to resist the succession of the Duke of 
York. As is well known, before the plot was matured 
Shaftesbury fled to Holland, where he died, and the 
management of this dangerous business was left in the 
hands of a council of six — Monmouth, Russell, Essex, 
Howard, Hampden, and Algernon Sidney. 

According to Lord Buchan, Fletcher and Baillie of 
Jerviswoode were the only two Scotsmen who were 
admitted into the secrets of the six; but what part 

20 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 21 

Fletcher took in the Whig Plot, which, it need scarcely 
be said, must be distinguished from the Rye-House 
Plot, of which Fletcher probably knew nothing, it is 
impossible to say. Baillie of Jerviswoode was offered 
his life, on condition that he would give evidence 
against his friends, and against Fletcher in particular; 
but he answered, in the often quoted words, 'They 
who make such a proposal know neither me nor my 
country.' 

In October 1683 ^^ was in Paris, whither he had 
perhaps journeyed in company with Burnet, who had 
left England at the beginning of September. Viscount 
Preston who was then at Paris as Envoy-Extraordinary 
from the English Court, wrote to Halifax about Fletcher. 
'Here,' he says, *is one Fletcher, lately come from 
Scotland. He is an ingenious but a very dangerous 
fanatic, and doubtless hath some commission, for I hear 
he is very busy and very virulent.' 

Burnet returned to England in the beginning of the 
following year ; and Fletcher seems then to have gone 
to Holland, where he saw he would be safer than any- 
where else, for we next find him travelling about in 
that country and in Belgium, visiting the libraries of 
Leyden, and picking up volumes among the bookstalls 
ot Haarlem. It was perhaps at this time that the 
curious incident recorded by Mrs. Calderwood of 
Polton, in the Coltness Collection, occurred. The 



22 FAMOUS SCOTS 

story is almost incredible ; but Mrs. Calderwood gives 
it in the most matter-of-fact way. 

'They tell,' she says, 'a story of old Fletcher of 
Salton and a skipper : Salton could not endure the 
smoak of toback, and as he was in a night-scoot, the 
skipper and he fell out about his forbidding him to 
smoak j Salton, finding he could not hinder him, went 
up and sat on the ridge of the boat, which bows like an 
arch. The skipper was so contentious that he followed 
him, and, on whatever side Salton sat, he put his pipe in 
the cheek next him, and whifed it in his face ; Salton 
went down several times, and brought up stones in his 
pockets from the ballast, and slipt them into the 
skipper's pocket that was next the water, and when he 
found he had loadened him as much as would sink him, 
he gives him a shove, so that over he hirsled. The 
boat went on, and Salton came down amongst the rest 
of the passengers, who probably were asleep, and fell 
asleep amongst the rest. In a little time bump came 
the scoot against the side, on which they all damned 
the skipper ; but, behold, when they called, there was 
no skipper; which would breed no great amazement 
in a Dutch company.' 

In the meantime the Government had not lost sight 
of Fletcher; for on the 21st of November 1684 he was 
cited at the Market Cross of Edinburgh, and at the 
pier and shore of Leitb, to appear within sixty days. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 23 

and answer to the charge of 'Conversing with Argyll 
and other rebels abroad.' With regard to this charge, 
Lord Fountainhall says that Fletcher's intrigues with 
Monmouth, at the time of the Whig Plot, could not be 
criminal, as Monmouth had received his pardon in 
December 1683; but this was not the opinion of the 
Lord Advocate, for m the following January the Laird 
of Saltoun and a number of other 'fugitive rebels,' 
including Lord Loudoun, Lord Melville, and Sir James 
Dalrymple of Stairs, were charged with high treason, 
and declared outlaws. 

Soon after the death of Charles 11. Fletcher was at 
Brussels ; and Monmouth, who was then living incognito 
at Amsterdam, sent his confidential servant, William 
Williams, with a letter to him. Williams afterwards, when 
he was called as a witness against Fletcher, said he did 
not know the contents of the letter; but it doubtless con- 
tained a request that Fletcher would come to Amsterdam. 

Monmouth was now in despair. With the death of 
his father, his last chance of being received at the 
English Court was gone. He had fallen into the hands 
of conspirators who were urging him to invade England. 
His own opinions were all against this ; and he wished 
to take the advice of Fletcher, which, \\ hether sound or 
not, was certain to be disinterested. So Fletcher went 
to Amsterdam; and what happened shows that Mon- 
mouth had acted wisely in sending for him. 



24 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Along list could be compiled of the exiles who were now 
assembled at Amsterdam. Argyll, Lord Grey of Wark, 
and Ferguson the Plotter, w^ere the most active and per- 
sistent of the conspirators who surrounded Monmouth ; 
but a great part in these fateful deliberations was taken 
by Ayloffe and Rumbold, whose names are so well 
known in connection with the Rye - House Plot, by 
Wade, and by Captain Matthews. Dare, known as 
*01d Dare,' to distinguish him from his son, must be 
specially remembered, as his name will presently occur 
in connection with the most painful event in Fletcher's 
life. He had been a goldsmith of Taunton before he 
went into exile. He was a man of rough manners, but 
very popular in his native place. Having lived abroad 
for some time, he was now eager for an immediate 
descent on England, and persisted, more than any one 
else, in promising to Monmouth a general rising in the 
west country. 

Another of the party was Anthony Buyse, who had 
served under the Elector of Brandenburgh, and whom 
readers of fiction may recollect as the ' Brandenburgher ' 
with whom Micah Clarke has the bout of * handgrips,' 
in Mr. Conan Doyle's famous romance. 

*The person,' Sir John Dalrymple says, 'in whom 
the Duke of Monmouth chiefly confided was Mr. 
Fletcher of Saltoun, in whom all the powers of the 
soldier, the orator, and the scholar were united ; and 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 25 

who, in ancient Rome, would have been the rival and 
the friend of Cato.' Fletcher's opinion was strong and 
clear. He was against making an attempt on England. 
Monmouth himself held the same view. But the fates 
were driving Monmouth and Argyll relentlessly to their 
doom. Argyll's mind was made up, and nothing 
could turn him from his purpose of invading Scotland. 
Fletcher was so convinced that the expedition to Scot- 
land was useless, that he refused to take a part in it, 
and said that, if there was to be an invasion, he would 
accompany Monmouth to England. 

He was, nevertheless, as strong against the expedi- 
tion to England as against that to Scotland ; but it 
appears, from what he afterwards told Burnet, that all 
the English, except Captain Matthews, were pressing 
Monmouth to make the venture. The west of England, 
they told him, would rise to a man, as soon as he 
appeared. There would be no fighting. Even the 
King's Guards would support him. In London, too, 
the people were as disaffected as in the west. The 
King vfould not dare to send troops out of the capital ; 
and so there would be time to raise such an army for 
the Protestant cause that he would be able to fight the 
King on equal terms. Monmouth was a soldier, and 
therefore knew that a force newly enlisted, and hastily 
organised, would have no chance against well-drilled 
troops. In the discussions, Fletcher and Matthews 



26 FAMOUS SCOTS 

alone seemed to have agreed with Monmouth — Lord 
Grey, Ferguson, Wade, and Dare all clamouring for 
action. ' Henry the Seventh,' said Grey, ' landed with 
a smaller force, and succeeded.' *He was sure of 
the nobility, who were little Princes in those days,' 
answered Fletcher shrewdly. * It is a good cause,' 
cried Ferguson, * and God will not leave us, unless we 
leave Him.* 

And, in the end, the rash counsels of Grey and 
Ferguson prevailed ; and Monmouth, who seems to 
have been at last talked into believing that success was 
possible, resolved to make the attempt. Nor could 
Fletcher persist in his opposition when, on the 2nd of 
Jklay, Argyll, taking Rumbold and Aylofife with him, 
sailed for Scotland, having received a promise from 
Monmouth that he would follow in six days. 

It was not, however, until the 24th that the party of 
adventurers, thirty in number, left Amsterdam in a 
lighter. The weather in the Zuider Zee was bad, and 
it took them nearly a week to reach the Texel. Here 
the frigate Helderenberg and three tenders awaited 
them. The frigate, with papers made out for Bilboa, 
had been chartered by Monmouth, and carried arms and 
ammunition. An attempt was made by the agent of the 
English Government to induce the authorities at Amster- 
dam to prevent the ship sailing ; but, though the States- 
General gave orders that she should be stopped, the 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 27 

Admiralty of Amsterdam professed that they had not a 
force at their disposal strong enough to take her. One 
of the tenders was seized ; but the Helderenberg^ with 
the other two, sailed with Monmouth and his followers, 
who now numbered eighty-two — of whom Lord Grey 
and Fletcher were the highest in rank. The bad 
weather continued after they left the Texel ; but at last 
the little company found themselves off the shores of 
Dorsetshire. 

Their intention was to land at Lyme ; but Dare was 
put ashore at Seaton, which lies a short distance to the 
west of Lyme, with orders to make his way to Taunton, 
and inform the friends of the Protestant cause that 
Monmouth was at hand.^ 

Between seven and eight o'clock on the evening of 
Thursday, the nth of June, the frigate anchored off 
Lyme, and Monmouth, accompanied by Fletcher, 
Grey, and the rest of his followers, landed. 

What happened next is well known. The town was 
seized ; the blue flag was hoisted in the market-place ; 
the manifesto which Ferguson had prepared was read ; 
and the people assembled with cries of ' Monmouth, 
and the Protestant Religion.' 

The leaders of the expedition lodged in the George 
Inn ; and during the following day Fletcher and Mon- 
mouth were constantly together, while recruits arrived 
in such numbers that the Duke's hopes rose high. All 



28 FAMOUS SCOTS 

that day they were arriving, and the lists filled rapidly 
— one of those who joined being Daniel Defoe, the 
future author of Robinson Crusoe, then a young man of 
twenty-four. The only bad news which reached Lyme 
was that the Dorsetshire Militia were assembling at 
Bridport. 

Early next morning, Saturday the 13th of June, Dare 
returned from his mission to Taunton at the head of 
forty horsemen. He was mounted on a fine charger, 
which he was said to have obtained at Fort Abbey, 
the seat of Mr. Prideaux. 

On that day Fletcher dined with Monmouth, and 
a council of war, at which Lord Grey was doubtless 
present, was held. It was resolved to attack the 
Dorset Militia at Bridport, and the command of the 
horse was intrusted to Grey and Fletcher. Orders 
were given that the attack on Bridport, which is only 
a few miles from Lyme, should take place that after- 
noon. 

And now occurred that unhappy incident which not 
only sent Fletcher once more into exile, but probably 
had a fatal influence on the fortunes of Monmouth. 
The horse on which Dare had ridden into Lyme that 
morning had attracted the attention of Fletcher, and, 
without asking leave of Dare, he went and took it, 
thinking, as Dalrymple puts it, that times of danger 
were not times of ceremony. Dare objected, assailing 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 29 

Fletcher with a volley of insults and bad language, 
which he bore patiently, perhaps because the other was 
not his equal in rank, or because he was unwilling to 
engage in a private quarrel when on duty. But the 
rough Englishman was at last foolish enough to think, 
from the calm demeanour of Fletcher, that he could 
bully him into giving up the horse, and had the inso- 
lence to shake a stick in his face. On this Fletcher, in 
a passion, pulled out a pistol, and in another moment 
Dare was a dead man. 

There can be Httle doubt that this is what actually 
took place. Ferguson, indeed, represents it as a mere 
accident for which Fletcher was not to blame. * The 
death of Dare was caused,' he says, * by his own intem- 
perate and unruly passion, and beyond the intention of 
the gentleman whose misfortune it was to do it ; who, 
having snatched his pistol into his hand for no other 
end but to preserve himself from the other's rude 
assault with a cane, had the unhappiness, unawares, to 
shoot him, contrary to his thoughts and inclinations, 
and to his inconceivable grief.' But Burnet, who pro- 
bably heard the story from Fletcher himself, says nothing 
about any accident, and his account is corroborated by 
the evidence which Buyse afterwards gave at Edinburgh, 
which will be found in the eleventh volume of the State 
Trials. Fletcher went and told Monmouth what had 
happened ; and, while they were speaking, the country 



30 FAMOUS SCOTS 

people, headed by Dare's son, appeared, demanding 
that justice should be done. Monmouth instantly saw 
that it would be impossible to retain Fletcher in his 
service, and advised him to make haste on board the 
frigate, and at the same time he sent orders to the 
master to sail. 

Ferguson says that Monmouth advised Fletcher to 
withdraw for a time, 'to prevent murmuring among 
some of ourselves, as well as to remove occasion of 
resentment in the inhabitants of Taunton.' But he 
says that he only told Fletcher to go * under a desire 
and command to return and meet him at a place which 
he named, but where, alas ! we never had the happiness 
to arrive.' 

But Monmouth knew that he had lost the services of 
Fletcher, and he was distressed beyond measure at the 
double blow. The loss of Dare, who knew the country 
well, was serious ; and when Fletcher rushed to the 
shore and made his way to the Helderenberg, Monmouth 
felt that he was losing the only competent ofificer in his 
little army, and one of the few men of any rank who 
were with him. * Though,' says Ferguson, 'the damage 
that befell us by the dismissing of that gentleman 
cannot easily be imagined or expressed, yet this I may 
say towards giving an idea of it — that as he was a person 
who, by his courage, military skill, civil prudence, 
application to business, and the interest be had in the 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 31 

Duke, would have contributed much to the conduct of 
our whole affairs, and have promoted the embracing all 
opportunities for action attended with any probable 
success ; so he would have done everything that could 
have been expected from a person of character and 
worth in a decisive engagement.' Though prudence 
was not one of Fletcher's virtues, this is scarcely an 
over-estimate of the loss which Monmouth's army 
had sustained in the loss of Fletcher ; and when, next 
morning, the attack on Bridport took place, in which 
the horse made such a poor display under the com- 
mand of Grey, not only the Scotsman Ferguson, but 
the whole army, must have regretted the absence of 
the brave Scottish gentleman. 'With Fletcher/ says 
Dalrymple, *all Monmouth's chances of success in 
war left him.' 

Lord Buchan's account of the reasons which led 
Fletcher to leave Monmouth may be at once rejected. 
* The account,' he says, * given by Fletcher himself of 
his general conduct at this time to the late Earl Mar- 
shal of Scotland was, that he had been induced to join 
the Duke of Monmouth on the principles of the Duke's 
manifestoes in England and Scotland, particularly by 
the laws promised for the permanent security of civil 
and political liberty and of the Protestant religion, and 
the calling of a general congress of delegates from the 
people at large, to form a free constitution of govern- 



32 FAMOUS SCOTS 

ment, and not to pretend to the throne upon any claim, 
except the free choice of the representatives of the 
people. That, when Monmouth was proclaimed King 
at Taunton, he saw his deception, and resolved to pro- 
ceed no further in his engagement, which he considered 
from that moment as treason against the just rights of 
the nation, and treachery on the part of Monmouth. 
That, finding himself therefore no longer capable of 
being useful, he left Taunton and embarked on board 
a vessel for Spain.' 

It is difficult to explain this statement. That it is not 
in accordance with fact is undeniable; for the very 
simple reason that nothing can be more certain than 
that Fletcher killed Dare and left England on the 13th 
of June, and that Monmouth was not proclaimed King 
until the 20th. In fact, Fletcher had probably reached 
Spain before Monmouth entered Taunton, where the 
proclamation was made. 

One explanation may be suggested. It is quite 
impossible that Fletcher could have told the Earl 
Marischal that he left England because Monmouth was 
proclaimed King ; but it is possible that when Fletcher 
was hurried on board the Helderenberg to save him 
from the fury of the mob, there was an understanding 
that he would return. When, however, he heard that 
Monmouth had assumed the royal title, he may have 
changed his mind. He may have said something to 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 33 

this effect to the Earl Marischal, who misunderstood 
nim. At the same time, it is to be observed, he was 
soon in situations where he could scarcely have heard 
of the proclamation until after the battle of Sedgemoor, 
and perhaps not until after the execution of Monmouth. 
All that can be said is that there was some misunder- 
standing on the part either of the Earl Marischal or 
of Lord Buchan. 

The Government in Scotland had put Henry Fletcher, 
Saltoun's brother, under lock and key as soon as they 
heard of Argyll's expedition ; and they now took pro- 
ceedings against Andrew. In August, Buyse, the 
Brandenburger, and Captain Robert Bruce, who were 
to be called as witnesses, reached Leith in one of the 
royal yachts; but it was not until the 21st of December 
that the case came on in the High Court of Justiciary 
at Edinburgh. 

By that time Monmouth was dead ; but he was cited, 
as Duke of Buccleuch, along with his widow and chil- 
dren.^ At the same time Sir James Dalrymple and 
Fletcher were arraigned. 

Sir George Mackenzie, then Lord Advocate, pro- 
secuted. The charge was that Monmouth, Dalrymple, 
and Fletcher had, in the year 1683, entered into a plot 

^ James vi. Pari, 6, Act 69. — 'Though regularly crimes die with the 
committers, and cannot be punished after their death, yet by this Act 
it is ordained that Treason may be pursued after the committer's 
death.' — Sir George Mackenzie's Observations on the Statutes, p. 136. 



34 FAMOUS SCOTS 

with Shaftesbury, Argyll, Russell, and others, to kill the 
King ; in short, they were accused, in the first place, of 
compHcity in the Whig Plot and the Rye-House Plot. 
But the most serious charge against Fletcher was that 
he had come from Holland with Monmouth. The 
indictment against him set forth that he ' landed with 
him (Monmouth) and rode up and down the country 
with him, and was in great esteem with him at Lyme 
for two or three days, and continued in open rebellion 
with him, till, having killed one Dare, an English gold- 
smith, who was likewise with them in the said rebeUion, 
he was forced to fly in the frigotts in which they came, 
and make his escape.' 

When the case against Fletcher came on, it was found 
that of forty-five jurymen who had been summoned 
only thirteen were in attendance ; and the proceedings 
were adjourned until the 4th of January. On that day 
the charge of complicity in the Whig and Rye-House 
Plots was withdrawn, and he was accused only of taking 
part in Monmouth's invasion. 

Fletcher was called, as a matter of form, and, when 
he did not appear, was declared a fugitive from the law. 
Then the Lord Advocate asked that his estate should 
be forfeited. A jury was chosen, amongst the members 
of which were the Marquis of Douglas, the Earl of Mar, 
the Earl of Lauderdale, and other peers, and of 
commoners Sir John Clerk of Penny cuik and Sir John 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 35 

Dalmahoy of that Ilk. Two witnesses, Captain Bruce 
and Anthony Buyse, were examined. Buyse could only 
say that he had himself sailed in the ship with Mon- 
mouth, * where he did see a gentleman who was called 
*' Fletcher of Saltoun," who was a little man, and had 
a brown periwig, of a lean face, pock-marked,' and that 
he heard he was *a Scots gentleman of a good estate.' 
After the death of Dare he saw this gentleman ' flee to 
the ship.' Captain Bruce knew Fletcher, and had 
sailed with him to Lyme. 

The judges, however, were very punctilious about 
complete identification, and the evidence was not 
considered sufiEicient until the deposition of Monmouth's 
servant Williams, then a prisoner in Newgate, was read. 
He stated that a few days before Monmouth embarked 
for England he * saw the said Mr. Fletcher with the late 
Duke, at his lodging in Mr. Dare's house in Amsterdam,' 
and then described Fletcher's doings from the day they 
left Amsterdam until the afternoon of the 13th of June 
1685. 

The proceedings of the jury, when they retired to 
consider their verdict, show that the judges were right 
in requiring full legal evidence as to the identity of 
Fletcher ; for Lord Torphichen, Sir John Clerk, Somer- 
ville of Drum, and at least one more of the jury, argued 
that the evidence was insufficient, on the ground that 
only one witness, Captain Bruce, had been examined 



36 FAMOUS SCOTS 

who could identify Fletcher of his own personal know- 
ledge. Buyse, they said, who had spoken only from 
hearsay, ' might be mistaken.' But when they returned 
to the court -room, Lord Lauderdale, the foreman, 
announced that by a majority they found a verdict of 
Guilty. 

Then Fletcher was sentenced to be put to death 
wherever he was found. He was attainted as a traitor. 
His name and memory were declared extinct, his blood 
tainted, his descendants incapable of holding any places 
or honours, and all his estates forfeited to the Crown. 

This sentence was pronounced on the 4th of January 
1686; and, by a grant under the Great Seal, dated 
Whitehall, i6th January, the lands and barony of 
Saltoun were given to George, Earl of Dumbarton. 



CHAPTER III 

Adventures in Spain — Serves in Hungary against the Turks — Returns 
to Scotland at the Revolution — Reforms in the Scottish Parliament 
— Saltoun restored — Darien. 

As soon as Fletcher gained the deck of the Helderen- 
berg the master sailed for Spain, carrying with him 
one John Kerridge, a pilot who had been pressed into 
Monmouth's service for the purpose of steering the 
vessel to Bristol. As soon as they reached Bilboa, 
Fletcher, the master, and this unfortunate Kerridge were 
all seized and put in prison ; and soon afterwards the 
English Minister at Madrid requested the Spanish 
Government to send Fletcher to England. If he had 
been sent to England his fate would not have long 
remained doubtful; but, by some strange chance, he 
escaped. The Earl Marischal's account of what Fletcher 
told him of his adventures at this period is as follows : — 
One morning he was sitting at the window of his 
prison, when a ' venerable person ' appeared, and made 
signs that he had something to tell him. Fletcher 
somehow found an open door, at which he was met by 
the * venerable person,' who led him past the sentinels, 

37 



38 FAMOUS SCOTS 

who, strange to say, were all fast asleep. As soon as 
he was outside the prison, his deliverer, who was a per- 
fect stranger, disappeared before he had time to thank 
him. Thereafter, in disguise, he wandered through 
Spain, where, as soon as he thought himself out of 
danger, he spent some time in studying in the conven- 
tual libraries, and buying rare and curious books. 

' He made,' says Lord Buchan, ' several very narrow 
escapes of being detected and seized in the course of 
his peregrinations through Spain, particularly in the 
neighbourhood of a town (the name of which Lord 
Marshall had forgotten) where he intended to have 
passed the night; but in the skirts of a wood a few 
miles distant from thence, upon entering a road to the 
right, he was warned by a woman of a very respectable 
appearance to take the left-hand road, as there would 
be danger in the other direction. Upon his arrival he 
found the citizens alarmed by the news of a robbery 
and murder on the road against which he had been 
cautioned.' 

We next find him serving under the Duke of Lorraine 
in Hungary against the Turks, whom he calls 'the 
common enemy of Christendom.' Here he is said to 
have distinguished himself by his gallantry and military 
talents ; but now events were happening elsewhere which 
soon led to his return from exile. The Revolution was 
rapidly approaching. James was losing ground in Scot- 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 39 

land as well as in England; and when the Scottish 
Parliament, at which the apostate Earl of Murray was 
Lord High Commissioner, met in April 1686, the 
King's letter, artfully framed for the purpose of inducing 
the Estates to tolerate the Roman Catholics, contained 
not only the offer of free trade with England, but also 
the promise of a 'full and ample indemnity for all 
crimes committed against our royal person and authority.' 
It is possible that if the Scottish Parliament had yielded 
to the wishes of the King this indemnity might have 
been granted, and Fletcher might have returned to 
Scotland. But it was soon found that even the Episco- 
palians would not submit to the royal wishes ; and the 
Parliament replied that they could only do as much for 
the relief of the Roman Catholics as their consciences 
would permit. Then followed the assertion of the dis- 
pensing power, the declarations of indulgence, and the 
series of events which brought about the Revolution. 

On the 2nd of October 1688, the very eve of his 
downfall, the King granted a general pardon ; but from 
that pardon several persons were specially excepted by 
name, and among these were Burnet, Ferguson the 
Plotter, Titus Oates, and Fletcher of Saltoun. By that 
time, however, Fletcher was at the Hague, whence he 
accompanied the Prince of Orange to England. 

He did not linger in the south, but made his way as 
soon as possible to Scotland. 



40 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Lord Buchan errs in saying that Fletcher was a 
member of the Convention of Estates which met at 
Edinburgh in March 1689. The members for Had- 
dingtonshire were Sir Robert Sinclair of Stevenston and 
Adam Cockburn of Ormiston ; but Fletcher was already 
taking an active part in public affairs. He had come 
back from the Continent with his Whig principles 
deepening into Republicanism, with his mind full of 
projects for the welfare of Scotland, and with a fixed 
opinion that the power of the Crown ought to be 
diminished. 

He therefore joined the Club, that association which 
had been formed for the express purpose of thwarting 
the Government and decreasing the royal authority. 
Sir James Montgomery, Annandale, Ross, and Sir 
Patrick Hume were the leaders of this body; and 
among them there was ' no man, though not a member, 
busier than Saltoun,' writes Sir William Lockhart to 
Lord Melville on the nth of July 1689. 

His great aim, then and ever after, was to reduce the 
royal authority to a shadow, and to place all real power 
in the hands of Parliament. ' He is,' said Mackay in 
the paper which he drew up for the use of the Princess 
Sophia, ' a zealous assertor of the liberties of the people, 
and so jealous of the growing power of all Princes, in 
whom he thinks ambition to be natural, that he is not 
for intrusting the best of them with a power which they 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 41 

can make use of against the people. As he believes all 
Princes made by, and for the good of, the people, he is 
for giving them no power but that of doing good.* The 
Club did not long survive ; but apart from some of the 
questionable and factious purposes for which it had 
been formed, it was mainly responsible for that salutary 
reform by which the institution known as the ' Lords of 
the Articles ' was abolished. Though Fletcher was not 
a member of the Convention, we are soon to enter on 
that period of his career when he was one of the fore- 
most members of the Scottish Parliament; and the 
proceedings of that body, of which an account must be 
given, will be unintelligible unless certain facts con- 
nected with its history and character are understood. 

The Scottish Parliament was originally divided into 
the three Estates of the Bishops, the Barons, and the 
Boroughs. The Estate of the Barons included the 
peers, or greater barons, and the county members, or 
lesser barons. The * Boroughs ' meant the representa- 
tives of the royal boroughs of Scotland. The three 
Estates sat in one chamber, there being no Upper and 
Lower House as in England. At the Revolution, when 
Episcopacy was abolished, the bishops lost their seats. 
The peers then became the first Estate, the county 
members (known as the ' barons ') the second Estate, 
and the borough members the third Estate. The peers 
numbered sixty-four in 1606, soon after the Union of 



42 FAMOUS SCOTS 

the Crowns; but by 1707 they had increased to one 
hundred and fifty-three. The number of commoners 
who sat in the Estates was never more than one hundred 
and fifty-six. Thus in the Scottish ParHament the feudal 
aristocracy was almost supreme. The franchise was then 
genuine, without the fictitious votes which were afterwards 
created on all sides; but the county members were 
really nominated, in many constituencies, by the peers. 
This, coupled with the fact that there was only one 
chamber, made the subjection of the Commons complete. 

The Commons, at the date of the Revolution, con- 
sisted of sixty -four county and sixty -six borough 
members. The county franchise was in the hands of 
the freeholders, who were few in number. The borough 
franchise was in the hands of the magistrates, who were 
self-elected. There was thus scarcely a trace of popular 
representation. Moreover, the officers of state had 
seats and votes without having to undergo any form of 
election, a custom which was often -complained of. 

But the chief peculiarity, and the most glaring defect 
in the constitution of the Scottish Parliament, before 
the Revolution, was the institution known as the Lords 
of the Articles. This was a committee chosen, at the 
beginning of each session, to prepare measures for the 
consideration of the Estates. It usually consisted of 
forty members, eight bishops, eight peers, eight county 
members, eight borough members, and eight officers of 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 43 

state. The manner in which they were chosen was as 
anomalous as their powers. First the bishops chose 
eight peers. Then those peers chose eight bishops ; 
and those sixteen chose the county and borough 
members. Eight officers of state, nominated by the 
King or his Commissioner, were added, and the 
Committee on Articles was complete. 'Not only,' 
Lauderdale once said, ' hath the King in Scotland his 
negative vote, but, God be thanked, by this constitution 
of the Articles, he hath the affirmative vote also, for 
nothing can come to the Parliament but through the 
Articles, and nothing can pass in Articles but what is 
warranted by his Majesty ; so that the King is absolute 
master in Parliament, both of the negative and affirma- 
tive.' 

All the business was, in most Scottish Parliaments, 
transacted by the Lords of the Articles. The usual 
course of procedure was this. As soon as the Estates 
met, the Committee on Articles was chosen, and 
directed to prepare the measures which were intended 
to become law during the session. The House then 
adjourned for a few days. When it met again, these 
measures were read, and passed at once into law. 
There was seldom any debating, and sometimes more 
than one hundred Acts of Parliament were passed, and 
received the royal assent, in one day. There was thus 
a constant danger of hasty legislation, and for this 



44 FAMOUS SCOTS 

there was no remedy. In England the Lords could 
reject any measure passed by the Commons, and the 
Commons could reject any measure passed by the 
Lords. But in Scotland, where there was only one 
chamber, there was nothing to prevent the Estates 
making any law, however rash or ill-considered, in the 
space of a single day. 

At the Revolution, however, the Committee of 
Articles, which the Estates had declared to be a griev- 
ance, was abolished. Henceforth the Acts of the 
Scottish Parliament were no longer compiled in secret, 
brought, cut and dry, into the House, read over by the 
clerks, and carried to the Throne to receive the royal 
assent, in batches of a dozen at a time, within the 
space of a few hours. Power was given to the Estates 
to choose freely such committees as they might think 
necessary, subject only to the condition that some of 
the officers of state should sit on these committees, 
but without the right of voting. 

The statute which put an end to the old institution 
of the Lords of the Articles became law on the 8th 
of May 1690. On the ist of May 1707 the Union 
took place. Thus the Scottish Parliament lasted for 
just seventeen years after the introduction of this great 
reform. The old defects in the rules of procedure 
remained; the method of conducting debates was 
still irregular ; and the risk of hasty legislation was as 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 45 

great as ever, only a slight attempt having been made 
to remedy this evil by a statute which forbade that any 
measure should be passed until it had been read twice. ^ 
But during these seventeen years the Scottish Parlia- 
ment was free. There was nothing to hinder the full 
discussion of any topic; and independent members 
could bring in measures, and move resolutions, as freely 
as in the Parliament of England. 

In the session of 1689 Fletcher presented a petition 
to the Estates for the restoration of the estate of Saltoun, 
in which he asserted that the sentence of forfeiture had 
proceeded on ' frivolous and weak pretences, and upon 
lame and defective probation.' 

This petition, along with some others of a similar 
character, was remitted to a committee of Parliament for 
inquiry. There was a long delay; and at last Fletcher was 
put forward to complain to the Duke of Hamilton, who 
was then Commissioner. So he went to Hamilton, and 
said it was unfair that Argyll's forfeiture should have 
been reversed without delay, while he and others, 
who had suffered unjustly, should have to wait so long. 
Having lodged this complaint, he asked Hamilton to 
mention the matter to the King. 

*Tell the King,' he said, 'that Fletcher of Saltoun 

1 Act that no law pass at the First Reading, 25th September 1695. 
The terra ' bill ' was not used in the Scottish Parliament. When a 
measure was brought in, and while it was before the Estates, it was 
called an ' overture,' or ' the draft of an Act,' or simply an 'Act.' 



46 FAMOUS SCOTS 

has a better right to his estate than his Majesty has to 
the Crown.' 

* Devil take me,' said the Duke in reply, * if it isn't 
true ! ' 

At last, on the 30th of June 1690, an Act was passed, 
rescinding the forfeiture, and putting Fletcher once 
more in possession of his family estate. 

Before this event, so important to Fletcher, took 
place, Hamilton, superseded by Melville, had retired in 
disgust from public life; and there is some reason to 
believe that it was Fletcher who was the means of bring- 
ing him back to support the Revolution principles in 
1692, when the country was alarmed by the threat of a 
Jacobite invasion. *I know you will be surprised,' 
Fletcher wrote to Hamilton in April of that year, * to 
receive a letter from me ; but my writing to you in 
such an exigence shows the high esteem I must have 
of you, and of the true love you bear your religion and 
country. If, laying aside all other considerations, 
you do not come in presently, and assist in council, all 
things will go into confusion ; and your presence there 
will easily retrieve all. The castle has been very nearly 
surprised, and an advertisement which Secretary John- 
stone had from France, and wrote hither, has saved it. 
When things are any ways composed you may return 
to your former measures, for I do not approve of them. 
I do advise your Grace to the most honourable thing 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 47 

you can do ; and without which your country must 
perish.' This ' spirited letter,' as it is called by 
Dalrymple — in whose Memoirs it is printed — is said 
to have induced Hamilton to make up his quarrel 
with the Court, and in the following year he was 
once more presiding over the debates of the Scottish 
Parliament. 

It was probably about this time, or soon after, that 
the project of forming the * Company of Scotland 
trading to Africa and the Indies ' first took shape in the 
fertile brain of William Paterson, who may perhaps 
have met Fletcher in Holland before the Revolution. 
He was in London in 1690; and Dalrymple says that 
in Scotland it was always believed that Fletcher brought 
him down to Saltoun, and presented him to the Marquis 
of Tweeddale, to whom Paterson unfolded the great 
scheme. Then Fletcher, * with that power which a 
vehement spirit always possesses over a diffident one, 
persuaded the Marquis, by arguments of public good, 
and of the honour which would redound to his adminis- 
tration, to adopt the scheme.' 

Sir John Dalrymple of Stairs, Mr. Secretary John- 
stonC;, and Sir James Stewart, then Lord Advocate, 
took the matter in hand, and the famous Act con- 
stituting the Company was passed by the Scottish 
Parliament, and received the royal assent on the 26th 
of June 1695. When the subscription list was opened, 



48 FAMOUS SCOTS 

in February 1696, Fletcher put his name down for one 
thousand pounds' worth of stock. 

The story of the expedition which the Company sent 
to Darien, and of the tragic fate of the adventurers, 
has been told and retold so often that every child 
from John o' Groat's House to the Cheviots knows it 
off by heart. It has never been forgotten in Scotland. 
England had to face the question — Shall we run the 
risk of a war with Spain to save the property of a 
Scottish trading Company, and the lives of some twelve 
hundred Scotsmen ? And England answered — No. 

Fletcher was a rich man, and the disaster at Darien 
did not mean ruin to him, as it did to so many of his 
countrymen. But the sight of their sufferings, the 
callous indifference of the English Government, and the 
knowledge that there was not one London merchant in 
a hundred who did not, in his heart, rejoice in the ruin 
which had befallen the Scottish traders, made him, as 
it made most Scotsmen, distrust England, and devote 
himself, heart and soul, for the rest of his life, to the 
cause of Scottish independence. 



CHAPTER IV 

Fletcher's Political Writings — ' A Discourse on Militias' — The Affairs 
of Scotland — Supports Slavery as a cure for Mendicancy — Attacks 
the Partition Treaty. 

It was in 1698, while the fate of the Darien expedition 
was still uncertain, that Fletcher first appeared as an 
author. 

In their original form his writings may be described 
as short, anonymous pamphlets, of duodecimo or small 
octavo size, and printed in italics. They were re- 
published, some years after Fletcher's death, in one 
volume, in 1732, under the title of The Political Works 
of Andrew Fletcher^ Esq.^ and since then there have 
been other editions. 

These earlier works consisted of — (i) A Discourse 
of Government with relation to Militias: Edin,, 1698; 
(2) Two Discourses concerning the Affairs of Scotland, 
written i?i the year 1698; (3) a work in Italian, called 
Discorso delle cose di Spagna, scritto nel mese di Luglio 
1698 : Napoli, 1698 ; (4) A Speech upon the State of the 
Nation, 1701. 

After the Peace of Ryswick there was a war of 

D 



50 FAMOUS SCOTS 

pamphlets on the question of standing armies. William 
III. desired to maintain a force sufficient to cope with 
France ; but, as Burnet says, * the word " standing 
army " had an odious sound in English ears ' ; and most 
Englishmen thought that a thoroughly trained militia 
and a strong navy would afford the best means for 
repelling an invasion from abroad, and securing order 

at home. 

Fletcher plunged into this controversy with his work 
upon militias. His argument is that standing armies 
kept up in peace have changed the governments of 
Europe from monarchies into tyrannies. ' Nor,' he says, 
' can the power of granting or refusing money, though 
vested in the subject, be a sufficient security for liberty, 
when a standing mercenary army is kept up in time of 
peace ; for he that is armed is always master of him 
that is unarmed. And not only that government is 
tyrannical which is tyrannically exercised, but all 
governments are tyrannical which have not in their 
constitution a sufficient security against the arbitrary 
power of the Prince.' Therefore no monarchy is suffi- 
ciently limited unless the sword is in the hands of the 
subject. A standing army tends to enslave a nation. 
It is composed of men whose trade is war. To support 
them heavy taxes must be imposed ; and it thus be- 
comes the interest of a large and formidable party in 
the state, consisting of those families whose kinsmen 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 51 

are soldiers, to keep up the army at the expense of 
their countrymen. 

No standing armies, Fletcher points out, have ever 
yet been allowed in this island. The Parliament of 
England has often declared them contrary to law ; and 
the Parliament of Scotland not only declared them to 
be a grievance, but made his keeping of them up one 
of its reasons for disowning King James. But, on the 
other hand, every free man should have arms, which are 
* the only true badge of liberty.* Military service ought 
to be compulsory upon all classes ; for ' no bodies of 
military men can be of any force or value unless many 
persons of quality or education be among them.' The 
only men who are fit to be officers are gentlemen of 
property and position. 

He has a plan all ready for organising the national 
militia. Four camps should be formed, three in England 
and one in Scotland. All men, on reaching their 
twenty-first birthday, must enter them, and serve for 
two years, if rich enough to support themselves, and 
for one year, if they must be maintained at the public 
expense. They are to be taught * the use of all sorts of 
arms, with the necessary evolutions ; as also wrestling, 
leaping, swimming, and the like exercises.' Every man 
who can afford it should be forced to buy a horse, and 
be trained to ride him. These camps were to remain 
for only eight days in one place, moving from one heath 



52 FAMOUS SCOTS 

to another, not only for the sake of health and cleanli- 
ness, but to teach the men to march, to forage, to 
fortify camps, and to carry their own tents and provi- 
sions. The food of all, both officers and privates, was 
to be the same. ' Their drink should be water, some- 
times tempered with a proportion of brandy, and at 
other times with vinegar. Their cloaths should be 
plain, coarse, and of a fashion fitted in everything for 
the fatigue of a camp.' 

Each camp was to break up, at certain seasons, into 
two parties, and spread over the mountains, marshes, 
and country roads, and practise tactics by manoeuvring 
against each other. No clergymen nor women should 
be allowed to enter them ; but * speeches exhorting to 
military and virtuous actions should be often composed, 
and pronounced publicly by such of the youth as were, 
by education and natural talents, qualified for it.* The 
strictest discipline was to be enforced. * The punish- 
ments should be much more rigorous than those in- 
flicted for the same crimes by the law of the land. And 
there should be punishments for some things not liable 
to any by the common law, immodest and insolent 
words or actions, gaming, and the like.' 

In this Spartan system Fletcher had the fullest con- 
fidence. * Such a militia/ he says, * might not only 
defend a people living in an island, but even such as 
are placed in the midst of the most warlike nations of 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 53 

the world' But the practical conclusion to which he 
comes is that, in the meantime, the existing militia was 
sufficient. No standing army was necessary. The 
sea was the only empire which naturally belonged to 
Britain. Conquest could never be our interest, still less 
to consume our people and our treasure in crusades 
undertaken on behalf of other nations. 

This Discourse on Militias^ which was first printed 
in 1698, in the form of a pamphlet, will be found in the 
various editions of his Works published in 1732, 1737, 
1749, and 1798, and was also reprinted in London in 
the year 1755.^ 

It appears, from internal evidence, that the Two 
Discourses concerning the Affairs of Scotland were 
written in the autumn of 1698. The Darien expedition 
had sailed at the end of July, and Fletcher urges the 
necessity of providing supplies for the new colony. 
The whole future of Scotland, he says, depends on 
the fate of this enterprise. The condition of the country 
has become desperate. Partly through the fault of 
Scotsmen themselves, and partly because the seat of 
government has been removed to London, it is cruelly 
impoverished, and has fallen so low ' that now our motto 
may be inverted, and all may not only provoke, but 
safely trample upon us.' Commerce we have none. 
No use has been made of our harbours. Nothing has 

1 MS. Bibliography. By Mr. Gordon Duff and Mr. R. A. S. Macfie. 



54 FAMOUS SCOTS 

been done for the poor. Every year people are emi- 
grating in search of work. We have no trade and no 
manufactures. Everything depends on the colony at 
Darien. Therefore the first business of Parliament 
should be to support the Company of Scotland, for 
which he proposes that the Estates should vote a large 
sum of money, and that three frigates which had lately 
been built by Scotland should be employed to convoy 
the next fleet that sailed for Darien. 

He hopes that, after providing for the Darien colon- 
ists, the Scottish Parliament will take steps to encourage 
trade at l^ome. The war is at an end. In that war 
Scotland has done great things. Seven or eight thou- 
sand Scotsmen served in the English fleet, and two or 
three thousand in that of Holland. ' Besides,' he says, 
*I am credibly informed that every fifth man in the 
English forces was either of this nation, or Scots-Irish, 
who are a people of the same blood with us.' But there 
is now no reason for keeping up the standing forces in 
Scotland. ' There is no pretence for them, except only 
to keep a few wretched Highlanders in order, which 
might easily be done by a due execution of our old laws 
made for that purpose, without the help of any fort or 
garrison.' As to danger from the Jacobites, ' the party of 
the late King James was always insignificant, and is now 
become a jest.' Scotland is called upon to provide 
;£84,ooo a year for the army. This is the same thing 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 55 

as if England had to find ;^2, 500,000; and yet all 
England provides is ;^35o,ooo. Scotland is, therefore, 
unfairly taxed ; and for that reason, and also because 
the militia is sufficient, the Estates should refuse to vote 
supplies for the army, and devote the money to the 
improvement of trade and industry. 

It is in the Second Discourse that Fletcher gives his 
well-known account of the poverty-stricken condition of 
Scotland, and prescribes domestic slavery as one remedy. 
No one who has minutely studied Scottish history 
during the seventeenth and the first half of the 
eighteenth centuries will think the picture overdrawn. 
The country was barren, and the seasons were inclement. 
But Fletcher thought of Holland, where he had seen 
field upon field rescued from the sea, harbours and 
ships, wealthy towns, flourishing farmers, canals running 
between rich pasturelands, or banks adorned by villas 
and gardens ; and all this had been the work of the 
sober and industrious people of a free republic, who had 
worked out their own salvation. Then he looked at 
Scotland, the country which he loved, and saw * many 
thousands of our people who are at this day dying for 
want of bread,' and asked, * How is this to be changed ? ' 
He was under no illusions. He saw things as they 
really were. The Trading Company might do much. 
If the Parliament would spend money on the encourage- 
ment of industry instead of on the army, Glasgow and 



56 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Dundee might rise from petty seaports into rich com- 
mercial cities, and agriculture might flourish in the 
Lothians. But a great part of the population of Scot- 
land consisted of people who would do anything rather 
than work. These were the descendants of the Border 
mosstroopers, the wild clansmen of the Highlands, and 
a vast migratory horde of sturdy beggars who wandered, 
in ragged hordes, over Lowlands and Highlands alike — 
starving, pilfering, and incorrigibly idle. * How,' he 
asked, 'are we to deal with these vagabonds?' His 
answer was, ' Force them to work.' He foresees that he 
will be accused of inconsistency, and must face the 
question how he, the champion of liberty, can propose 
such a measure. But he answers that he regards not 
names but things. ' We are told,' he says, ' there is not 
a slave in France ; that when a slave sets his foot upon 
French ground, he becomes immediately free; and I 
say there is not a freeman in France, because the King 
takes away part of any man's property at his pleasure ; 
and that, let him do what he will to any man, there is 
no remedy.' Public liberty may be complete in a 
country where there is domestic slavery, and he only 
proposes that the idle, sturdy beggar should be made a 
slave for the benefit of the country at large. 

That Fletcher was favourable to domestic slavery, as 
a social institution, is clear. He argues that the clergy 
are to blame for the 'multitude of beggars who now 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 57 

oppress the world.' His view is that churchmen, 
* never failing to confound things spiritual with tem- 
poral, and consequently all good order and good 
government, either through mistake or design,' recom- 
mended masters, when Christianity was established, to 
set at liberty such of their slaves as would become 
Christians; and the result of this advice was that 
thousands of persons, who had been well clothed, well 
fed, and well housed as slaves, were thrown loose upon 
the world, which has ever since been overrun by a 
ragged army of idle freemen who live on alms. 

He therefore urges that in Scotland stern measures 
should be taken, especially with the Highlanders, for 
whom he has a profound contempt. ' Nor indeed,' he 
says, 'can there be any thorough reformation in this 
affair, so long as the one-half of our country, in extent 
of ground, is possessed by a people who are all gentle- 
men only because they will not work, and who in 
everything are more contemptible than the vilest slaves, 
except that they always carry arms, because for the 
most part they live upon robbery.' His proposals are 
that hospitals should be provided for such beggars as 
are old and feeble ; but as for the rest, he would divide 
them into two classes. The harmless beggars should 
be employed as domestic slaves. The dangerous 
ruffians should be sent to Venice, to * serve in the 
galleys against the common enemy of Christendom.* 



58 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Such were the means by which Fletcher would have 
put an end to idleness and mendicancy in Scotland; 
and his well-known description of the state of things 
may be once more quoted, as an explanation of how he 
came to hold such views. *In all times there have 
been about a hundred thousand of those vagabonds 
who have lived without any regard or subjection to the 
laws of the land, or even those of God and nature. . . . 
Many murders have been discovered among them, and 
they are not only a most unspeakable oppression to 
poor tenants (who, if they give not bread or some kind 
of provision to perhaps forty such villains in one day, 
are sure to be insulted by them), but they rob many 
poor people who live in houses distant from any neigh- 
bourhood. At country weddings, markets, burials, and 
other the like occasions, they are to be seen — both men 
and women — perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, 
and fighting together.' 

Apart from this evil of a large pauper population, for 
which he had the courage to propose the remedy of 
slavery, Fletcher thought that much of the poverty in 
Scotland was caused by high rents. These, he says, 
are so excessive that they make * the tenant even poorer 
than his servant, whose wages he cannot pay,' and this 
affects not only the day labourer, but the village trades- 
men, and the merchants of the county towns. Rents 
must therefore be reduced ; and not only so, but an 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 59 

Act of Parliament should be passed, forbidding any 
man to possess more land than he can cultivate by his 
own servants. By this means more labour would be 
employed, the soil would be better cultivated, and the 
wealth of the country vastly increased. * In a few years,' 
says Fletcher, ' the country will be everywhere enclosed 
and improved to the greatest height, the plough being 
everywhere in the hand of the possessor.' 

He also suggested, as a cure for the depressed state 
of agriculture, the crude remedy that lending money on 
interest should be forbidden. By this means, he says, 
* men who have small sums at interest will be obliged 
to employ it in trade or the improvement of land.' 

Proposals such as these, which nowadays some will 
say were in advance of his time, and others will regard 
as impracticable and absurd, were not taken seriously 
at the time he made them. * Mr. Fletcher's schemes,' 
says Sir John Clerk, a commonplace man, but a shrewd 
and cautious observer, 'had but very little credit, 
because he himself was often for changing them ; 
though, in other respects, a very worthy man. It 
used to be said of him, that it would be easy to 
hang by his own schemes of government ; for, if they 
had taken place, he would have been the first man 
that would have attempted an alteration.' ^ 

The Italian essay on the affairs of Spain was appar- 

1 MS. note on Lockhart, quoted in Somerville, p. 204. 



6o FAMOUS SCOTS 

ently suggested by the Partition Treaty of 1698. In 
the editions of Fletcher's collected works there is an 
* Auviso,' or advertisement, prefixed to this pamphlet, in 
which the author explains that he has written the dis- 
course in order to show how easily any prince who 
succeeds to the throne of Spain may acquire the empire 
of the world ; and in the Speech upon the State of the 
Natiofi^ he deals with the same topic. The letter of 
the Treaty, he urges, speaks of keeping the peace of 
Europe by breaking up the Spanish monarchy, but the 
spirit of it throws that monarchy into the hands of the 
Bourbons. The result will be that the balance of 
power will be upset, a war will follow, civil and religious 
liberty will be endangered. William in., he hints, may 
offer to support the Spanish policy of France, if Louis 
will assist him to become an absolute monarch in 
England and Holland. * This treaty,' he says, ' is like 
an alarum-bell rung over all Europe. Pray God it may 
not prove to you a passing-bell.' ^ • 

This manifesto, though described as a speech, was 
probably never delivered. But it may be regarded as 
an election address ; for on the dissolution of the 
Convention Parliament, Fletcher was returned, at the 
general election, for the county of Haddington, with 
Adam Cockburn of Ormiston as his colleague. 

1 The 1749 edition of Fletchers Works contains an English transla- 
tion of the Discorso di Spagna, 



CHAPTER V 

The First Session of the Union Parliament — Fletcher proposes his 
Twelve Limitations on the Crown — The Act of Security — The 
Supplies are refused. 

The Estates met at Edinburgh on the 6th of May 
1703. The forms of the opening ceremony were 
similar to those which had been used for at least a 
hundred years. But it was observed that on this 
day the preparations were more elaborate than usual. 
Queensberry, who was Lord High Commissioner, occu- 
pied the royal apartments in Holyrood House. On the 
evening of the 5th the crown, the sceptre, and the 
sword of state, known as the ' honours,' and regarded 
with peculiar veneration as the symbols of the ancient 
monarchy, were carried from the castle to the palace hy 
the officials of the Treasury, and presented to the Com- 
missioner. Next morning, at an early hour. Lord 
Errol, the hereditary High Constable of Scotland, 
waited upon the Commissioner to receive his last in- 
structions, and then proceeded to the ParHament 
House, for the arrangements of which he was respon- 
sible during the sittings of the Estates. In the mean- 

61 



62 FAMOUS SCOTS 

time, the long steep street which still leads from Holy- 
rood to the Parliament House, and which was then the 
fashionable quarter of the city, had been cleared of 
traffic, and lined with wooden railings, to keep back the 
crowd which assembled to witness the Riding of the 
Parliament, as the procession of members to the place 
of meeting was called. The tall houses, with their pic- 
turesque gables and projecting balconies, were hung 
with tapestry, and the windows were filled with gay 
parties of gentlemen and ladies. The street was lined 
by a regiment of foot-guards, under the command of 
General Ramsay, then commander-in-chief of the forces 
in Scotland, and by the members of the town-guard. 

At ten o'clock the Commissioner held a levee, which 
was attended by all the members of the Parliament, 
both peers and commoners. The Lyon King of Arms 
was there, with his heralds, pursuivants, and trumpeters, 
and the palace-yard was crowded by grooms and lackeys, 
in charge of the horses on which the members were to 
ride. The spectators on this day noticed that the liveries 
of the servants were richer than had ever been seen 
before, and that the horses were unusually fine. While 
the levee was proceeding, Lord Chancellor Seafield ; 
Annandale, President of the Council ; Tarbat, Secretary 
of State ; and Tullibardine, Lord Privy Seal, mounted 
and rode, with their attendants, to the Parliament 
House, to await the arrival of the Estates. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 63 

When the Commissioner was ready to start, the 
Lyon King declared the order in which the procession 
was to be formed, and one of his heralds, from a window 
of the palace, repeated his words to the attendants in 
the yard below. A troop of horse grenadiers headed 
the cavalcade. Then came the borough members, riding 
two abreast on horses with trappings of black velvet, 
and followed by the county members in the same order. 
After them rode those officers of state who were not 
peers of the realm. The barons, the viscounts, and the 
earls formed the next part of the procession, all arrayed 
in scarlet robes, and their horses led by serving-men in 
liveries which displayed the arms of their masters. 
Each earl had four, and each viscount three, servants 
with him. The Lyon King, wearing his official dress 
and carrying his baton, rode alone, with his pursuivants 
and trumpeters, immediately in front of the honours, 
which were carried by three peers. The sword of state 
was carried by the Earl of Mar, the sceptre by the Earl 
of Crawford, and the crown by the Earl of Forfar, as 
nearest kinsman of Archibald, Marquis of Douglas, who 
was then too young to take part in the ceremony. Then 
came the Lord High Commissioner, surrounded by his 
pages and the gentlemen of his household, and followed 
by Argyll, who rode last of the procession, at the head 
of a squadron of the royal horse-guards. 

When the procession reached the precincts of the 



64 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Parliament House, the members were received by the 
High Constable, whose officers escorted them to the 
door of the hall in which the sittings were held. The 
last to enter was the Commissioner, who was conducted 
to the throne by the High Constable, and by William, 
ninth Earl Marischal, hereditary Keeper of the Regalia 
of Scotland. 

The place in which the last Parliament of Scotland 
met that day was the spacious and lofty chamber which 
is now used as an entrance-hall to the Court of Session. 
The old oak roof, rising from curiously carved corbals, 
still remains ; but in other respects the appearance of 
the place is completely changed since the days of 
Fletcher. Then, at the south end, under the large 
mullioned window, stood the throne, elevated on steps 
to a considerable height. On either side there rose 
from the floor tiers of benches, on which the members 
of the Estates sat in places fixed according to their 
different ranks. In the centre of the hall, between the 
benches, was a long table, at which the Lord Clerk- 
Register, the clerks of the House, and sometimes the 
judges, sat. At the upper end of the table, in front of 
the throne, the crown, the sceptre, and the sword lay 
during each sitting. The officers of state clustered on 
the steps of the throne ; and near them the Lord Chan- 
cellor, who acted as Speaker of the House, had his chair. 
At the other end of the hall was the bar, behind which 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 65 

there was an open space, in which strangers were 
allowed to stand and Hsten to the proceedings ; and 
often, during the debates of the next four years, when 
the evenings closed in and the candles were lighted in 
the body of the House, murmurs of disapproval or 
shouts of applause came from the darkness behind the 
bar. It was amidst these surroundings that the Whig 
lords defended the policy of the English Government, 
and were answered by the Cavaliers, and that Fletcher 
and the Country Party declaimed on freedom and a 
limited monarchy. 

The leader of the Country Party, of which Fletcher 
was the most enthusiastic and thoroughgoing member, 
was James, fourth Duke of Hamilton, the Hamilton 
of Es77iond. 'Of a middle stature, well made, of a 
black, coarse complexion, a brisk look,' is the contem- 
porary account of his appearance. He was, indeed, a 
gallant gentleman, as Thackeray describes him; but 
though perhaps afterwards, when he was appointed 
Ambassador to France, he may have been waited 
upon by obsequious tradesmen laden with jewels, and 
velvets, and brocades, yet during the greater part of 
his career he was overwhelmed with debts, a circum- 
stance which interfered with his independence, and 
probably was the secret cause of a great deal that was 
mysterious in his conduct. As Earl of Arran he had, 
at the time of the Revolution, openly professed his 

£ 



66 FAMOUS SCOTS 

devotion to King James, and had, soon after, suffered 
imprisonment on suspicion of carrying on a correspond- 
ence with the Court of Saint Germains. By his 
dexterity mainly the opposition was organised during the 
last years of William's reign, and, though his haughty 
demeanour sometimes gave offence, he was followed 
both by the Jacobites and by the Country Party. 

He was assisted in the leadership by four peers, 
whose opinions, unlike his, were entirely on the Whig 
side. These were John, second Marquis of Tweed- 
dale, and his son-in-law, the seventh Earl of Rothes, 
James, fourth Marquis of Montrose, and John, fifth Earl 
of Roxburghe. Tweeddale was now a man of between 
fifty and sixty; but Rothes, Montrose, and Roxburghe 
were young, each about twenty-four, fiery and impe- 
tuous, qualities which made them favourites at a 
time of great popular excitement. These were the 
chief colleagues of Fletcher during the arduous contest 
which now began ; but none of them displayed a con- 
sistency or a disinterestedness equal to his. 

At the beginning of the session Fletcher was 
occupied with an election petition from Haddington- 
shire, which was presented by Sir George Suttie of Bal- 
gonie, who opposed the return of John Cockburn, 
younger of Ormiston, as one of the county members. 
The Committee on contested elections found that 
Suttie and Cockburn had received an equal number of 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 67 

votes. A new election was ordered, and, to Fletcher's 
satisfaction, Cockburn was on the ist of June returned 
as his colleague. 

But more important matters than contested elections 
were already engaging the attention of the Estates. 
Queensberry had attempted to strengthen the Govern- 
ment by forming an alliance with the Jacobites, who had 
promised to vote the supphes for which the Parliament 
was to be asked. But Argyll and his friends had re- 
fused to follow him in this policy, and it became 
evident that the Government would have to fight a 
strong opposition, composed of the Jacobites and the 
Country Party acting in concert. The struggle began 
on the 26th of May, when the Estates discussed the 
question of whether they should vote the supplies, or 
proceed to ' make such conditions of government and 
regulations in the constitution of the kingdom, to take 
place after the decease of her Majestie and the heirs of 
her body, as shall be necessary for the preservation of 
our religion and liberty.' 

The terms of this resolution, which was moved by 
Tweeddale, were often heard during the rest of the 
session ; and the issue was soon narrowed down to the 
single point of whether the Estates should grant a 
supply, or pass an Act of Parliament for the security of 
liberty, religion, and trade. 

On the 26th of May Fletcher moved that the Estates 



6S FAMOUS SCOTS 

should divide on the question of whether they were to 
take the first reading of the Supply Act or proceed to 
make Acts for the security of liberty and religion. 

* My Lord Chancellor/ he said, ' I am not surprised 
to find an Act for a supply brought into this House at 
the beginning of a session. I know custom has, for a 
long time, made it common. But I think experience 
might teach us that such Acts should be the last of 
every session ; or He upon the table, till all other 
great affairs of the nation be finished, and then only 
granted. It is a strange proposition which is usually 
made in this House, that if we will give money to the 
Crown, then the Crown will give us good laws ; as if 
we were to buy good laws of the Crown, and pay money 
to our princes, that they may do their duty, and comply 
with their coronation oath. And yet this is not the 
worst, for we have often had promises of good laws, 
and when we have given the sums demanded, those 
promises have been broken, and the nation left to seek 
a remedy — which is not to be found, unless we obtain 
the laws we want, before we give a supply. And if this 
be a sufficient reason at all times to postpone a money 
Act, can we be blamed for doing so at this time, when 
the duty we owe to our country indispensably obliges 
us to provide for the common safety in case of an 
event, altogether out of our power, and which must 
necessarily dissolve the Government, unless we con- 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 69 

tinue and secure it by new laws : I mean the death of 
her Majesty, which God in His mercy long avert.' 

There was a long debate ; and it was not until two 
days later, that the Ministers, seeing themselves in a 
minority, gave in, and allowed what was afterwards 
known as the Grand Resolve, of 28th May 1703, to 
pass without a division. By this Resolve it was de- 
clared that Acts for the security of religion, liberty, and 
trade were to have precedence over Supply or any other 
business whatsoever. 

Fletcher, with the whole of the Opposition at his 
back, supported every proposal the effect of which was 
to guard against the influence of England, and to 
emphasise the fact that Scotland was an independent 
kingdom. But he had also elaborated a great scheme 
of his own, which he laid before the Estates. ' Before 
the Union of the Crowns,' he said, 'no monarchy in 
Europe was more limited, nor any people more jealous 
of liberty than the Scots.' But the result of the Union 
of the Crowns was that the people of Scotland lost 
their liberties. English influence, the source of every 
evil, had become supreme. Now was the time to strike 
a blow for freedom ; and he proposed Twelve Limita- 
tions, or conditions on which, after the death of Anne, 
the Crown of Scotland was to go to the same Sovereign 
as should rule in England. These Limitations were : 1. 
Annual Parliaments, which should choose their own 



70 FAMOUS SCOTS 

President, adjourn at their own pleasure, and vote by 
ballot. 2. That for every new peerage granted by the 
Crown, another county member should be added to 
the Parliament. 3. That none should vote in Parliament 
except peers or elected members. 4. That the king should 
not have the power of refusing the royal assent to any 
Act passed by the Estates. 5. That when Parliament was 
not sitting the executive Government should be in the 
hands of a Committee chosen by Parliament. 6. That 
the King should not have the power of making war or 
peace, or concluding any treaty, except with consent 
of Parliament. 7. That all offices, civil and military, and 
all pensions, should be given by Parliament, instead of 
by the King. 8. That without consent of Parliament 
there should be no standing army. 9. That a national 
militia, of all men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, 
should be at once armed with bayonets, firelocks, and 
ammunition. 10. That no general pardons should be 
valid without consent of Parliament. 11. That no 
judge should sit in Parliament, or hold any other office, 
and that the office of President of the Court of Session 
should be in three of the judges, named by the Estates. 
12. That if the King should break any of these condi- 
tions, the Estates were to declare that he had forfeited 
the throne, and proceed to choose a successor. 

These conditions, for proposing which he would have 
been sent to the gallows in the days of the Stuarts, and 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 71 

to Botany Bay in the days of Mr. Pitt, Fletcher pressed 
upon the Estates as essential for the protection of 
Scotland against England. ' If,' he said, ' our Kings lived 
among us, it would not be strange to find these limita- 
tions rejected. It is not the prerogative of a King of 
Scotland I would diminish, but the prerogative of 
Enghsh Ministers over this nation. These conditions 
of Government being either such as our ancestors 
enjoyed, or principally directed to cut off our depend- 
ence on an English Court, and not to take place 
during the Ufa of the Queen, he who refuses his 
consent to them, whatever he may be by birth, cannot 
sure be a Scotsman by affection. This will be a true 
test to distinguish, not Whig from Tory, Presbyterian 
from Episcopal, Hanover from Saint Germains, nor yet 
a courtier from a man out of place, but a proper test to 
distinguish a friend from an enemy to his country.' 

But the Scottish Parhament, in spite of all its high- 
strung patriotism, was not prepared to accept so 
republican a scheme as this; and by a majority of 
twenty-six votes it was decided that the Laird of 
Saltoun's Limitations should not form a part of the 
' Act of Security ' which the Estates were now engaged 
in framing. 

The basis of this famous statute was a measure 
introduced by the Lord Privy Seal, providing that the 
Estates should meet within twenty days after the death 



72 FAMOUS SCOTS 

of Anne, and proceed to name a Protestant successor 
to the throne of Scotland. But to this simple measure 
a number of clauses were added, until it grew into that 
elaborate Act which was the pivot on which Scottish 
history turned until the Union. 

Rothes proposed a clause which embodied the 
principle of one of Fletcher's Limitations : That war 
and peace were to be made only by consent of Parlia- 
ment. Queensberry said that he was ready to consent 
to anything which was for the good of the country, 
and which * the Queen had under her view when she 
left London.' This proposal, he said, she had never 
heard of. 

On this Fletcher declared that it was now evident, as 
he had often thought, that in Scottish affairs the Crown 
was under the influence of English councillors. At 
these words some members were so ill-advised as to 
interrupt him, and even to suggest that he should be 
censured. This led to a scene. 'What!' exclaimed 
Hamilton, *is this the liberty of Parliament?' There 
were shouts of * privilege ' from all parts of the House ; 
and several members rose at the same time to demand 
that the member should be allowed, without interrup- 
tion, to explain his words. 

As soon as silence was obtained Fletcher continued. 
He had no difficulty, he said, in explaining. He 
spoke, not as a slave, but as a free man. He had the 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 73 

greatest respect for the Queen and for her Commissioner. 
But the love and duty which he bore to his country 
obHged him to speak as he had spoken. What the 
Commissioner had said that day convinced him that 
the only way to secure Scotland from English inter- 
ference was to refuse to settle the Scottish Crown on 
the English Sovereign. The two countries must have 
separate Kings. 

This statement was received with a tumult of applause; 
but the matter was allowed to drop. Nor did the 
Estates embody the clause proposed by Rothes in the 
Act of Security. The next great fight was over a clause 
introduced by Roxburghe. It provided that the Suc- 
cession was not, on the death of Anne, to be the same 
in Scotland as in England, unless conditions of govern- 
ment were settled which would secure the independence 
of the Crown of Scotland, the power of the Estates, and 
the liberty and trade of the country ' from the English 
or any foreign influence.' 

This was really the most formidable proposal which 
any member of the Country Party, with the exception of 
Fletcher, had as yet brought forward. It was, never- 
theless, evident that the House was ready to accept it, 
and that the Act of Security would, therefore, contain 
provisions which, though not so drastic as the Twelve 
Limitations, could scarcely be tolerated by England. 

Fletcher was up, supporting the clause with his usual 



74 FAMOUS SCOTS 

vehemence, when suddenly the Chancellor rose and 
stopped him. It was, he explained, too late to finish 
the debate, and he, therefore, adjourned the House. 
Instantly there was one of those scenes to which mem- 
bers were becoming accustomed. Some declared that 
they would address the Queen, and complain that her 
Ministers were attempting to interfere with the liberty of 
debate. Others maintained that what the Chancellor 
had done was a violation of the Claim of Right, and 
that, therefore, he was guilty of treason. It was with 
difficulty that the noise was stopped while prayers were 
said. Hamilton announced that he would remain in 
the House and instantly draw up the address to the 
Queen, and Fletcher hurried to his side to help him ; 
but when the Duke saw the Commissioner descending 
from the throne, he changed his mind and followed him 
out of the House. 

That night, however, the address was prepared and 
signed by sixty members. On the morrow more signa- 
tures were obtained, and when the Estates met the 
Country Party tabled a protest against the irregular 
adjournment of the previous evening. But the Chan- 
cellor declared that the late hour was the reason why he 
had adjourned the House, said the Government had no 
desire to encroach on the privileges of members, and 
announced that the debate on Roxburghe's clause 
would be resumed on the following day. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 75 

In the meantime the Government had adjusted a 
clause which was admirably fitted to secure a large 
measure of support, and also to stave off the awkward 
question which had been raised by Roxburghe. It 
provided that, after the death of Anne, the same person 
should not wear both the Crowns unless free trade 
between the two countries was established, and the right 
of trading to the colonies was granted to Scotland. 
When the debate was resumed, the Lord Advocate, Sir 
James Stewart, moved that this clause should be sub- 
stituted for that proposed by Roxburghe. To this 
Fletcher adroitly answered that the Country Party was 
delighted with the conduct of the Ministers in framing 
this most useful clause, and would gladly accept it as well 
as that of Roxburghe. He then moved that the two 
clauses should be joined, and made part of the Act of 
Security. The House would have agreed to this at 
once ; but the Ministers made one struggle more, and 
obtained a short respite by moving the adjournment of 
the debate, which they carried, but only by a majority 
of three votes. 

But the Government were in a hopeless position. The 
opinion of the Estates evidently was that the King of 
England must not be King of Scotland, unless England 
would agree to such conditions of government as the 
Scottish Parliament chose to enforce, and unless the 
home and colonial trade was thrown open to the Scottish 



76 FAMOUS SCOTS 

people. The clauses were joined, and then a division 
was taken on the question, 'Add them to the Act or 
not?' The Government voted against adding them, 
and were beaten by no less than seventy-two votes. 

Godolphin heard with dismay of what had been done. 
In a letter to Athole he says that the Queen was not 
pleased with either of the clauses proposed by Rox- 
burghe and by the Lord Advocate, as tending, each of 
them, to make a perfect separation, instead of a Union. 
Her Majesty, he declares, would never consent to any 
Act which establishes a different succession in Scotland 
to that in England. 

The division in which the Government were so hope- 
lessly beaten, took place on the 26th of July, and after 
that the Opposition had matters all their own way. The 
last great debate was on the loth of August, when a 
clause was proposed directing the Protestant land- 
owners and burgesses to arm and drill all the men in 
their districts who were capable of bearing arms. 

This was a clause after Fletcher's- own heart, and he 
supported it in a short but trenchant speech, in which 
he argued that to insist upon conditions of govern- 
ment, without the means of enforcing them, was folly. 
Without the support of arms, all enactments for the 
security of the country were vain and empty proposi- 
tions. ' To rely upon any law,' he said, ' without such a 
security, is to lean upon a shadow. . . . To be found 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 77 

unarmed, in the event of her Majesty's death, would 
be to have no manner of security for our Hberty, 
property, or the independence of this kingdom. ... If 
we do not provide for arming the kingdom in such an 
exigency, we shall become a jest and a proverb to the 
world.' The Government divided the House against 
this clause, but were beaten, and it was added to the 
Act. 

Three days later, every bench in the Parliament 
House being crowded, the Act of Security was read 
over twice. No further amendments were proposed. 
The roll was then called ; and, though a number of 
members did not answer to their names, the measure 
was passed by a majority of sixty votes. 

The chief provisions of the Act of Security, in framing 
which the Estates had now spent two months, were as 
follows : On the death of Anne the ParHament was to 
meet, and settle the succession. If the Queen left an 
heir, or a recognised successor, the Crown was to be 
offered to him on the terms contained in the Claim of 
Rights. But if there was no heir, or recognised suc- 
cessor, then the Estates were to choose a successor, 
who must be of the royal line of Scotland, and of the 
Protestant religion. But it was not to be in the power 
of the Estates to choose the successor to the throne of 
England as successor to that of Scotland, ' nor shall the 
same person be capable, in any event, to be King or 



78 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Queen of both realms,' unless there were established, to 
the satisfaction of the Scottish Parliament, free home 
and colonial trade, and also such conditions of govern- 
ment as would secure the Crown, the Parliament, the 
religion, and the liberty of Scotland from English or 
any foreign influence. And, ' for a further security of 
the kingdom,' the men of every county and borough 
were to be furnished with fire-arms and drilled once a 
month. The Act was transmitted to London, and 
Godolphin was requested to say whether or not it was 
to be touched with the sceptre. 

William the Third had, on several occasions, refused 
the royal assent to Acts passed by the Parliament of 
Scotland ; and now the Courtiers, the Cavaliers, and the 
Country Party waited with curiosity to hear what 
course the Queen, on the advice of her Ministers, would 
take at the present crisis. The Country Party and the 
Cavaliers were equally determined not to settle the 
Scottish Succession except on the conditions set forth 
in the Act, and Queensberry was repeatedly questioned 
on the subject. Fletcher, in particular, made several 
speeches on this topic ; but the Commissioner gave no 
sign until the loth of September, when he stated that 
he had obtained leave to give the royal assent to all 
the Acts which had been passed, excepting the Act of 
Security. * You may easily believe,' he explained, 'that 
requires her Majesty's further consideration.' 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 79 

He ended a speech, which it must have needed some 
courage to deHver, by asking them to vote the SuppHes. 
But the House was in no mood to comply with this 
request. We should have been told, one member said, 
at the beginning of the session that we were called 
together merely to vote money, and then adjourn. It 
would have saved us a great deal of trouble. If any 
Scotsman has advised the Queen in this matter, cried 
another, he is a traitor to his country. Fletcher denied 
the power of the Sovereign to refuse the royal assent, 
and there is a good deal to be said in favour of this 
view of the Scottish constitution. Hamilton and Rox- 
burghe moved that an address be presented to her 
Majesty, praying her to reconsider the matter, and 
direct the Commissioner to touch the Act with the 
sceptre. After a long debate, in which every member 
who spoke blamed the English Ministers for what had 
happened, the motion to address the throne was rejected 
by twelve votes^ and the House rose. 

A few days after the Commissioner had announced 
that the royal assent was refused, Lord Boyle, the 
Treasurer-Depute, moved that the Act of Supply, which 
had been lying on the table since May, should be read, 
and on this Fletcher once more brought forward his 
Limitations. ' My Lord Chancellor,' he said, ' his Grace, 
the High Commissioner, having acquainted this House 
that he has instructions from her Majesty to give the 



8o FAMOUS SCOTS 

royal assent to all Acts passed in this session except 
that for the security of the kingdom, it will be highly 
necessary to provide some new laws for securing our 
liberty upon the expiration of the present entail of the 
Crown.' From this text he delivered an impassioned 
address, imploring the Estates, in particular, to accept 
his proposal that all places, offices, and pensions should, 
after the death of Anne, be conferred by Parliament 
alone, so long as Scotland was under the same Prince 
as England. 'Without this limitation,' he exclaimed, 
' our poverty and subjection to the Court of England 
will every day increase ; and the question we have now 
before us is, whether we will be free men or slaves for 
ever; whether we will continue to depend, or break 
the yoke of our dependence ; and whether we will 
choose to live poor and miserable, or rich, free, and 
happy? ... By this Hmitation our Parliament will 
become the most uncorrupted senate of all Europe. No 
man will be tempted to vote against the interest of his 
country, when his country shall have all the bribes in 
our own hands : offices, places, pensions. ... If, there- 
fore, either reason, honour, or conscience have any 
influence upon us; if we have any regard either to 
ourselves or posterity; if there be any such thing as 
virtue, happiness, or reputation in this world, or felicity 
in a future state, let me adjure you by all these not to 
draw upon your heads everlasting infamy, attended with 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 8i 

the eternal reproaches and anguish of an evil conscience, 
by making yourselves and your posterity miserable.' 

The Ministry, well aware that only a portion of the 
Country Party would follow Fletcher on this question 
of the Limitations, wished the House to vote on the 
issue of whether Supply or the Limitations should 
be discussed. But Fletcher, who saw in a moment 
at what the Government were aiming, interposed, and 
said that he had had the honour to offer a means 
of securing the liberties of the nation against England ; 
that in his opinion the country was nearly ruined, and 
that his proposals were necessary; but still he relied 
on the wisdom of the Estates, and withdrew his 
motion. 

Thus checkmated, the Ministers were at a loss what 
to do. They knew that the motion to discuss over- 
tures for liberty would be carried against their motion 
to discuss Supply, and they could think of nothing 
else on which they could ask the House to vote. 
There were anxious faces, and some hasty whispering 
on the steps of the throne. Cries of ' Vote ! Vote ! ' 
resounded from all the benches. The Commissioner 
rose. * If the House,' he said, ' will agree to the first 
reading of the Subsidy Act, I promise that it shall 
not be heard of for the next three sittings.' 

Instantly Fletcher was on his feet. * Those about 
the throne,' he exclaimed, 'could not really expect the 

F 



82 FAMOUS SCOTS 

House to agree to this.' It meant that the Subsidy 
Act was to be read a first time now. Then the House 
was to be amused with three sittings on overtures for 
liberty, 'which sittings shall meet at six and adjourn 
at seven.' On the fourth day, the Supplies would be 
voted ; and then Parliament would be prorogued. He 
was certain the House knew the artifices of the Govern- 
ment too well to be misled by them. 

Another member pointed to the throne, and declared 
that the men who sat round it were endeavouring to 
destroy the privileges of Parliament, and filch away 
its liberty. 'The House,' says Lockhart, 'was crowded 
with a vast number of people ; nothing for two hours 
could be heard but voices of members and others (it 
being dark and candles lighted) requiring " hberty and 
no subsidy.'" The excitement of the members in- 
creased; the clamour of spectators behind the bar 
grew louder ; and at last the voice of young Roxburghe 
was heard, above the din, shouting, 'What we desire 
is reasonable, and if we cannot' obtain it by Parlia- 
mentary means, we shall demand it, upon the steps of 
the throne, with our swords in our hands.' 

Upon this the Chancellor rose, and announced that 
the Government yielded, and that the overtures for 
liberty would be discussed upon the following day. 

That night at Holyrood Queensberry and the 
Ministers discussed the situation. The town was in 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 83 

an uproar. For several nights the troops had been 
under arms; and it had come to the ears of some 
members of the Estates that their commander had 
been so foolish as to threaten, in his cups, that 'ways 
would be found to make the Parliament calm enough.' 
The members were incensed against the Government 
and against England; and if they were allowed to 
discuss the favourite 'overtures for liberty,' there was 
no saying what might happen. As to the Supplies, 
the small sum of money which was obtained from 
Scotland was not worth fighting for; and when the 
Council separated, Queensberry had almost made up 
his mind to prorogue the Parliament at once. 

Early next morning Fletcher and his friends had 
a meeting at which they prepared a measure which 
they intended to introduce. It provided that there 
should be an election every year, at which no officer 
of the army, or of the customs or excise, could be 
elected; that Parliament should meet at least once 
in every two years, and that each sitting should be 
adjourned on the motion of a member, and not by 
the Commissioner. They agreed that if the royal 
assent was given to this Act, they would vote the 
Supplies. 

Queensberry heard of this, but he could not, for the 
sake of securing a small sum of money, run the risk 
of giving the royal assent to a measure which intro- 



84 FAMOUS SCOTS 

duced such important changes. Accordingly, when 
the House met, he rose, and prorogued the ParHa- 
ment. 

The Country Party spared no pains to let the people 
of England know the importance which the people of 
Scotland attached to the measure to which the royal 
assent had been refused. The Act of Security was 
circulated, and widely read in London, in an edition 
to which some notes were added stating that nothing 
was ever done with more deliberation by the Scottish 
Parliament, and that there was not a shadow of a 
reason for supposing that bribery, or any unfair means, 
had been used to secure a majority, 'considering the 
quality and estates of those who were for it.' 

Fletcher revised his speeches, and printed them in 
a small octavo volume, for the purpose of educating 
the English mind. They were, perhaps, not much 
appreciated. The leaves of the copy in the Bodleian 
Library at Oxford remained uncut till the autumn of 
1896. Englishmen saw just two facts — that the 
Scottish Parliament had refused Supplies in the midst 
of an European war, and that the Scottish people 
wished to be independent of the English Crown. 



CHAPTER VI 



• A Conversation concerning a Right Regulation of Government for 
the Common Good of Mankind.' 



When the turmoil of the Parliament House had 
ceased for a time, Fletcher took up his pen. The 
edition of his speeches which he prepared has already 
been mentioned. A Speech without-doors concerning 
Toleration^ supposed to have been published about 
this time, has been attributed to him, but, both in 
style and argument, it is unUke anything he is known 
to have written. He has also been credited with the 
authorship of an Historical Account of the Ancient 
Rights and Power of the Parliament of Scotland^ which 
appeared in 1703. The style is like that of Fletcher, 
but there is no evidence that he wrote it. Indeed, 
a passage in the preface, where he speaks of the author 
of the Discourse of Goveriiment with Relation to Militias 
as *a very learned gentleman of our own country, a 
great patron of liberty, and happy in a polite pen,' 
makes it almost impossible. He composed, however, 
a short piece in which he embodied his theories of 

85 



86 FAMOUS SCOTS 

government, and his views regarding the relations of 
England and Scotland, in the form of a dialogue on 
politics, under the title of ^An Account of a Con- 
versation concerni?ig a Right Regulation of Govern- 
ment for the Common Good of Mankind: In a 
Letter to the Marquis of Montrose, the Earls of 
Rothes, Roxburghe, and Haddington. From London 
the first of December 1703.' In this little duodecimo, 
of ninety-two pages printed in italics, he described him- 
self as walking slowly on the Mall one morning. 
The Earl of Cromartie and Sir Christopher Musgrave 
met him. Cromartie said he would be glad of 
Fletcher's company at dinner, and introduced him to 
Sir Christopher, with whom Fletcher was not pre- 
viously acquainted. Some compliments passed between 
them, and then they went to Cromartie's lodgings in 
Whitehall to pass away the time till dinner. 

' Here, gentlemen,' said the Earl, * you have two of 
the noblest objects that can delight the eye — the finest 
river and the greatest city in the world.' 

From the window they saw a charming view of 
London and the Thames, which led them to speak of 
the wonderful situation of the English capital; the 
ground on which it was built, sloping to the river and 
giving it a natural drainage ; the gravel soil, and the 
salubrious climate. Then all the country round — Kent, 
with its choice fruits j Hertfordshire, with its fields of 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 87 

golden corn ; Essex and Surrey, producing the best of 
beef and mutton ; and Buckinghamshire, whence came 
huge wains laden with wood. The river, too, brought 
to their doors the produce of all parts of the world in 
such plenty that nowhere else were things so cheap and 
abundant. 

Fletcher, thinking how different it all was from Scot- 
land, said that he had often admired the peace and 
happiness of the inhabitants, caused either by the ad- 
vantages which they enjoyed, or by their natural tem- 
perament. He spoke of their civil and religious liberty, 
of the judgments of Westminster Hall, of the great 
affairs of the Parliament of England, of the vast trans- 
actions on the Exchange, of the shipping, and of the 
flourishing trade. He was going on to praise the recrea- 
tions and pleasures of the court and the town, when 
Sir Christopher called out that these last words had 
spoilt all he said before. Talking about the pleasures 
of the town, he said, reminded them of all the cheating 
on the Exchange and in the gaming-houses, and of 
the facilities for intrigues which were afforded by the 
masques, the hackney coaches, the taverns, and the 
playhouses of a great city. 

This interruption to the flow of Fletcher's eloquence 
led them to discuss social questions. But the problem 
of how to reform the morals of society seemed insoluble, 
and especially in London, where, as Sir Christopher 



88 FAMOUS SCOTS 

pointed out, they had to deal both with extreme poverty 
and excessive riches. While they were thus conversing, 
Sir Edward Seymour arrived, and Fletcher was pre- 
sented to him. 

* Ah,' said Sir Edward, * you are one of those who, in 
the late session of the Scots Parliament, opposed the 
interests of the Court* 

Then they began to talk politics, and Seymour said 
Fletcher had been engaged in framing Utopias. * In 
which, sir,' he said, 'you had the honour to be 
seconded by several men of quality, of about two or 
three and twenty years of age, whose long experience 
and consummate prudence in public affairs could not 
but produce wonderful schemes of government.' 

Fletcher took this sally in good part, and was defend- 
ing himself stoutly, when Sir Edward interrupted him. 

' Sir,' he said, with a sneer, * you begin to declaim as 
if they overheard you.' 

But Fletcher maintained that the Country Party had 
been right in acting as they did. 

' Pray, sir,' asked Seymour, * of what is it that they 
complain ? ' 

Fletcher's answer was that Scotland was an inde- 
pendent nation, and that the National Party wanted to 
secure the honour of the Scottish Crown, and the 
freedom of their own Parliament and trade, from either 
English or foreign influence. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 89 

'Heyday!' cried Sir Edward, all in a pet. 'Here 
is a fine cant indeed ! Independent nation ! Honour 
of our Crown ! And what not ? Do you consider what 
proportion you bear to England? Not one to forty 
in rents of lands. Besides, our greatest riches arise 
from trade and manufactures, of which you have none.' 

To all this Fletcher replied by saying that the Union 
of the Crowns had ruined Scotland ; that the French 
trade had once been great, and also the Spanish trade, 
whilst Spain and England were at war ; but that since 
the Union of the Crowns everything had changed. 
The Scottish nobles spent their money in England, 
and the jealousy of English merchants had prevented 
the growth of Scottish commerce. 

Here Cromartie said that, in his opinion, there was 
an easy remedy for all this, 'which was an Union of 
the two nations.' But Fletcher thought that an Union 
would not easily come to pass, nor would it be a 
remedy for the grievances he complained of. England, 
it seemed to him, had never shown any real willingness 
to unite. ' I have always observed,' he said, ' that a 
Treaty of Union has never been mentioned by the 
English, but with a design to amuse us when they appre- 
hended some danger from our nation.' This was, he 
had no doubt, the reason for the late treaty. England, 
having chosen a successor to Queen Anne without 
consulting Scotland, had thought that the only way to 



90 FAMOUS SCOTS 

gain the assent of the Scottish people to the Hanoverian 
succession was to propose an Union. Then he gave 
an account of the state of pubHc feehng in Scotland 
on that subject. ' The Scots, however fond they have 
formerly been of such a coalition, are now become 
much less concerned for the success of it, from a just 
sense they have that it would not only prove no remedy 
for our present ill condition, but increase the poverty of 
our country.' 

He gave his reasons. An incorporating Union, 
which would abolish the Scottish Parliament, would 
make Scotland poorer than ever, because Scotsmen 
would spend more money than ever in England. 
Members of Parliament would go to London and live 
there. No Scotsman who wanted public employment 
would ever set foot in Scotland. Every man who 
made a fortune in England would buy land there. The 
trade of Scotland would be nothing more than an incon- 
siderable retail business in an impoverished country. 

Cromartie said he did not think so, and tried to 
convince Fletcher that free commerce with England, 
and the right of trading to the Colonies, would be an 
immense boon to Scotland. 

'For my part,' exclaimed Fletcher, *I cannot see 
what advantages a free trade to the English plantations 
would bring us, except a further exhausting of our 
people, and the utter ruin of all our merchants, who 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 91 

should vainly pretend to carry that trade from the 
English.' 

Then he said that the Scots had a further grievance 
against England. They were indignant at the scurrilous 
attacks which were made upon them by Englishmen. 

Here Sir Edward broke out 'all in a flame.' 

* What a pother is here,' he cried, * about an Union 
with Scotland, of which all the advantage we shall 
have will be no more than what a man gets by 
marrying a beggar — a louse for a portion ! ' 

At this Fletcher fired up, and told Cromartie and Sir 
Christopher that if Sir Edward had spoken these words 
in the House of Commons,^ he might not notice them, 
but that as he had chosen to use them in a private con- 
versation, he would take the liberty to say that he won- 
dered Sir Edward was not afraid lest such language 
should make the company suspect him not to be de- 
scended of the noble family whose name he bore. 
This pretty way of saying he was no gentleman put 
Sir Edward into a towering rage, and they came to high 
words about the past wars between the two countries. 

"Tis inseparable from the fortunes of our Edwards 
to triumph over your nation,' he said. 

'Do you mean,' retorted Fletcher, 'Edward of Car- 
narvon and his victory at Bannockburn ? ' 

1 Sir Edward Seymour had actually used these words in the House 
of Commons. 



92 FAMOUS SCOTS 

The altercation was stopped by Sir Christopher, who 
adroitly changed the subject, and asked Fletcher what 
he thought of an Union between England and Ireland. 

*The better conditions you give them,* Fletcher 
represents himself as saying, *the greater wisdom you 
will show.' 

* But you do not consider,' said Sir Christopher, 
*that Ireland lies more commodiously situated for 
trade, and has better harbours than England, and if 
they had the same freedom and privileges, might carry 
the trade from us.' 

* Ay,' said Fletcher, ' there 'tis. Trade is the constant 
stumbling-block and ball of contention. But do you 
think that if Ireland, by a just and equal Union with 
England, should increase in riches, such an increase 
would prove so prejudicial to England, where the seat 
of the Government is ? ' 

Sir Christopher argued that England, having conquered 
Ireland, had a right to use the Irish people 'at discretion.' 

*Then,' leplied Fletcher, *you have a right to do 
injustice.' 

* 'Tis not injustice,' said Sir Christopher, 'because it 
is our right.' The danger, he argued, is that Ireland 
may break away from England, and * set up a distinct 
Government in opposition to our right, and perhaps 
v/ith the ruin of this nation.' * What can tempt and 
provoke them so much,' asked Fletcher, * to do so, as 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 93 

unjust usage?' 'But the surest way, was the reply, 
*is to put it out of their power to separate from us.' 
*If so,' said Fletcher, 'you must own your way of 
governing that people to be an oppression ; since your 
design is to keep them low and weak, and not to 
encourage either virtue or industry.' 

He went on to expound his theory, which was that 
London should no longer be the only seat of Govern- 
ment, but that England, Scotland, and Ireland should 
be joined together in a federal Union. 'That London, 
he said, ' should draw the riches and government of the 
three kingdoms to the south-east corner of this island, 
is in some degree as unnatural as for one city to possess 
the riches and government of the world. ... I shall 
add that so many different seats of Government will 
highly encourage virtue. For all the same offices that 
belong to a great kingdom must be in each of them ; 
with this difference, that the offices of such a kingdom 
being always burdened with more business than any 
one man can rightly execute, most things are abandoned 
to the rapacity of servants ; and the extravagant profits 
of great officers plunge them into all manner of luxury, 
and debauch them from doing good; whereas the 
offices of these lesser Governments, extending only over 
a moderate number of people, will be duly executed, 
and many men have occasions put into their hands of 
doing good to their fellow-citizens. So many different 



94 FAMOUS SCOTS 

seats of Government will highly tend to the improve- 
ment of all arts and sciences, and afford great variety 
of entertainment to all foreigners, and others of a 
curious and inquisitive genius, as the ancient cities of 
Greece did.' 

' I perceive now,' Sir Edward broke in, ' the tendency 
of all this discourse. On my conscience, he has con- 
trived the whole scheme to no other end than to set 
his own country on an equal foot with England and the 
rest of the world.' 

Fletcher's answer was that Scotland, if separated from 
England, must be involved in constant war; but that 
if united to England, and at the same time left in 
possession of the power of self-government, she would 
be prosperous. * This,' he exclaimed, ' is the only just 
and rational kind of Union. All other coalitions are 
but the unjust subjection of one people to another.' 

At this point the conversation ended. ' I was going 
on,' he concludes, ' to open many things concerning 
those leagued Governments, when a servant came to 
acquaint us that dinner was set on the table. We were 
nobly entertained, and after dinner I took leave of the 
company, and returned to my lodgings, having promised 
to meet them again at another time to discourse further 
on the same subject.' 

This imaginary dialogue is perhaps the best known 
of Fletcher's writings. The style almost approaches 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 95 

that of the Tatlers and Spectators^ and it contains the 
well-known saying about ballads. Sir Christopher 
alludes to the infamous ballads which were sung in the 
streets of London, and their bad influence on the 
morals of the people. 'One would think,' says 
Cromartie, ' this last were of no great consequence.' 

*I knew,' remarks Fletcher, 'a very wise man so 
much of Sir Christopher's sentiment that he believed 
if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he 
need not care who should make the laws of a nation.' 

The ' very wise man ' is, of course, Fletcher's ironical 
description of himself; and the epigram may be taken 
as an instance of the kind of humour which flashes out, 
every now and then, in his treatment of the grave 
topics on which he most delights to dwell. Lord 
Buchan has preserved another instance of Fletcher's 
irony. ' Fletcher,' he says, * used to say with Cromwell 
and Milton that the trappings of a monarchy and a 
great aristocracy would patch up a very clever little 
commonwealth. Being in company with the witty Dr. 
Pitcairn, the conversation turned on a person of learning 
whose history was not distinctly known. ' I knew the 
man well,' said Fletcher ; * he was hereditary Professor 
of Divinity at Hamburgh.' * Hereditary Professor ! ' 
said Pitcairn, with a laugh of astonishment and derision. 
* Yes, Doctor,' replied Fletcher, ' hereditary Professor of 
Divinity. What think you of an hereditary King ? ' 



CHAPTER VII 



A New Ministry in Scotland — Scenes in the Parliament House — The 
Act of Security becomes Law — England retaliates by passing the 
Alien Act. 



Before the next session of the Scottish Parliament 
there had been a change in the Scottish Ministry. The 
' Scots Plot,' in connection with which Queensberry had 
played such a sorry part, had proved to Godolphin that 
a new Commissioner must be appointed ; and Queens- 
berry was discarded in favour of Tweeddale, who formed 
a Ministry in which Johnston of Warriston was Lord 
Register, Cromartie was Secretary of State, and Seafield 
Chancellor. He succeeded, moreover, in securing the 
support of several members of the Country Party, among 
whom Rothes, Roxburghe, Belhaven, and Dundas of 
Arniston were prominent. This party took the name 
of the New Party ; and the Government in London 
hoped that the Opposition would now be so far weak- 
ened that nothing more would be heard of the Act of 
Security. 

Parliament met in the beginning of July 1704. The 
Queen's Speech urged the necessity of settling the 

96 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 97 

Protestant Succession in Scotland, and, at the same 
time, promised that the royal assent would be given to 
any proper means of securing the liberties and the 
independence of Scotland ; but it was soon found that 
the Estates v/ere as intractable as ever. Hamilton at 
once moved ' that this Parliament will not proceed to 
the nomination of a successor to the Crown until we 
have had a previous treaty with England in relation to 
our commerce, and other concerns with that nation.' 

On this subject there were long debates, in which 
Fletcher, says Lockhart, ' did elegantly and pathetically 
set forth the hardships and miseries to which we have 
been exposed since the Union of the two Crowns of 
Scotland and England in one and the same Sovereign.' 
At last Hamilton moved that the Act of Security and 
an Act granting supplies to the Crown should be tacked 
together. When this proposal was discussed, Johnston 
said that the plan of ' tacking ' was reasonable in 
England where there were two Houses, and where the 
Commons might be forced to bring the Lords to reason 
by sending up a Money Bill along with some measure 
which the Upper House would not otherwise pass 
Such a system, he argued, did not suit the Scottish 
Parliament, which consisted of only one chamber. It 
was, moreover, ' a straitening of the Queen, who might 
possibly consent to the one and not to the other.' 

'Now,' said Fletcher, 'it appears there must be a 

G 



98 FAMOUS SCOTS 

bargain, and unless the Parliament go into the measures 
laid down in England, nothing must be done; and 
he who spoke last has undertaken to obtain these 
measures to be performed here. I know,' he went 
on, 'and can make it appear that the Register has 
undertaken to persecute the English designs for 
promotion to himself.' 

On this some of the members called out that 
Fletcher should be sent to the bar of the House for 
using such language. 

Fletcher, backed up by Hamilton, then declared that 
the Queen's letter had been written when no Scotsman 
was with her, and must, therefore, have been concocted 
under English influence. Johnston denied this, and 
said that the draught of the letter had been sent up 
from Scotland. 

Fletcher still maintained that he was right ; and on 
this Sir James Halket called out that Saltoun was 
impertinent. To this Fletcher's reply was that any 
member who used such words of him was a rascal. 

* The House,' says Sir David Hume, ' being alarmed at 
such expressions, Sir James Erskine moved both should 
be sent to prison.' The incident ended by the Chan- 
cellor giving a * sharp rebuke ' to both the honourable 
members, who were forced to express their regret, and 
to promise, upon their word of honour, that they would 
not take any notice elsewhere of what had happened. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 99 

In the end the House decided that the Act of 
Security should be read a first time, and should, along 
with the Act of Supply, lie on the table until it was 
known whether it was to receive the royal assent. It 
was soon found that the Scottish Parliament had at last 
gained the day; and in the beginning of August the 
Act of Security received the royal assent. On this 
the Estates voted the supplies. 

During the rest of the session Fletcher spoke fre- 
quently. He was especially indignant against the 
House of Lords for an address which they had pre- 
sented to the throne on the subject of the Scots Plot ; 
and he went so far as to move that ' the House of 
Peers in England their address to the Queen to use 
her endeavours to get the succession of England settled 
in Scotland, and inquiring into the plot, so far as it 
concerned Scotland and Scotsmen, was an undue inter- 
meddUng with our affairs, and an encroachment upon 
the sovereignty and independency of Scotland ; and 
that the behaviour of the House of Commons in these 
matters was like good subjects of our Queen, and as 
neighbourly friends of this nation.' 

The feeling of the Estates may be gathered from the 
fact that they refused to approve of the conduct of the 
Commons, but agreed to censure the House of Lords. 
Nothing done by the Enghsh Parliament was right. 

Just before the end of the session Fletcher brought 



loo FAMOUS SCOTS 

in a measure for the purpose of adding eleven county 
members to the Parliament, and one more, in future, for 
every new peer who might be created. Hamilton, at 
the same time, introduced an ' Act about free voting in 
Parliament,' the object of which was to exclude from 
the House officers in the army, collectors of customs, 
and some other persons in the pay of the Crown. 

On the 24th of August, Fletcher moved the second 
reading of his measure ; and, as soon as he sat down, 
Hamilton moved the second reading of his. On this 
Fletcher said, ' The member who has just spoken con- 
tradicts himself,' and explained that Hamilton had been 
in favour of the measure for adding to the county 
members, which he was now hindering. 

Hamilton at once complained of the way in which he 
had been spoken of, and offered to go to the bar, * If I 
have said anything amiss.' 

' Such reckoning,' cried Fletcher, ' is for another 
place.' 

Hamilton retorted that he did not refuse to give that 
satisfaction either. 'The Chancellor,' says Sir David 
Hume, 'took notice of both their expressions, and 
moved, that first Salton should crave my Lord Commis- 
sioner and the House pardon, if without design he had 
said anything that gave offence; which, after a long 
struggle he was prevailed with to do, if Duke Hamilton 
would do the like, and which both did, and promised, 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN loi 

on their word of honour, there should be no more word 
of what had passed.' 

Four days after this incident the session ended. The 
Act of Security was now law. Fletcher and his friends 
were triumphant, and more hostile to England than 
ever; while the people of England were not only in- 
dignant, but alarmed by the news that the Scots were 
buying arms, and meeting for drill in every parish, 
under the provisions of the Act of Security. 

The prospect was very dark ; but there were some 
rays of light, the resignations of Nottingham and 
Seymour, the most violent members of the Tory party, 
making it possible that the claims of Scotland to equal 
treatment with England might be acknowledged. But 
England was not in a mood to be trifled with. A week 
after the royal assent had been given to the Act of 
Security, the battle of Blenheim was fought. Marl- 
borough was now at the summit of his power ; and the 
alliance between him and Godolphin alone saved the 
latter from falling before the storm of indignation which 
greeted him for advising the Queen to allow the Act 
to become law. The Government had been successful 
both in England and abroad ; and the Opposition fixed 
upon the one vulnerable point — their Scottish policy. 
The Act of Security was printed and circulated through- 
out the country. The nations, it was pointed out, were 
now separated by law; and for this Godolphin was 



I02 FAMOUS SCOTS 

responsible. Wharton boasted that he had the Lord 
Treasurer's head in a halter, and swore that he would 
draw it tight. It was believed that large quantities of 
arms were arriving in Scotland from the Continent, and 
that the people were being drilled for the purpose of 
fighting against England. Godolphin himself, a man 
of few words and great experience, did not share in the 
general panic. 'People,' he told Queensberry after- 
wards at another crisis, 'who mean to fight, do not talk 
so much about it.' His invariable answer to all the 
abuse which was hurled at his head was that there 
would have been more danger in refusing the royal 
assent than in giving it ; and he added that the danger 
was ' not without a remedy.' 

There can be little doubt that this remedy was the 
Union. But there were not many Englishmen who had 
the long experience or the calmness of Godolphin. The 
Scots, it was said, never wanted the will, and now they 
have the power, to attack us. France will find the 
money. They themselves will find the men, and their 
long-suppressed hatred against England will burst forth. 
Scotland must either be reduced by force of arms, or 
the militia must be embodied, and Parliament must 
petition the Queen to see that those gentlemen who 
allowed the Act of Security to pass may have the 
honour of defending the borders. By their policy they 
have undone the Union, such as it is, which has existed 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 103 

since the death of Elizabeth, and have separated the 
countries. On them, therefore, the danger should fall. 
Much that was very fooHsh and very false was said and 
written ; but even to the coolest heads in England the 
peril seemed great, not on account of any immediate 
danger from the army in Scotland, but on account of 
the state of the Succession question. The situation was 
that England was now shut up to these alternatives : — 
either, on the death of Anne, she must make war on 
Scotland, conquer the country, and hold it by force of 
arms, without any attempt at constitutional government ; 
or she must allow a separate King to sit on the Scottish 
throne ; or she must consent to an Union, and at last 
submit to give Scotland an equal share in English 
trade. Godolphin saw this. So did Somers and Hali- 
fax. Everything depended on the course taken by the 
English Parliament. 

The English Parliament met on the 25th of October 
1704; and what followed is in marked contrast to the 
irregular proceedings of the Scottish Estates. The 
strife of parties was as keen in London as in Edinburgh. 
The factions were as violent; but the proceedings at 
Westminster were regular and orderly. Speed there 
was; but everything was done with that punctilious 
attention to forms which makes the resolutions of the 
English Parliament, by whatever angry passions the 
members may be influenced, so doubly weighty, not 



I04 FAMOUS SCOTS 

only because they are the decisions of the representa- 
tives of a great and powerful nation, but because they 
are framed, revised, and adopted in such an orderly 
method, that to read the journals of the Lords and 
Commons (a vast mine of constitutional law, which is 
too much neglected) gives the student of our history 
an impressive idea of strength and durability. 

In the Queen's Speech Scotland was not mentioned ; 
but a month later Haversham called the attention of the 
Lords to the state of that country. He attacked the 
Scottish policy of the Government, and said it proved 
that the Ministry had not honestly tried to settle the 
Succession question. * There are,' he said, * two matters 
of all troubles — much discontent and great poverty. 
Whoever will now look into Scotland will find them 
both in that kingdom.' And the character of this people, 
so poor and so discontented, made their condition all 
the more dangerous to England. The nobles and the 
gentlemen of Scotland were as brave as could be found 
in Europe. The common people were the same, yet 
they were all alike poor and discontented. By the Act 
of Security they could choose a King for themselves, 
and they could arm the whole nation ; and who could 
tell what dangers might not be in store for England if, 
on the death of the Queen, with France to help them, 
and with a King of their own, they chose to make war. 
*I shall end,' he said, 'with an advice of my Lord Bacon's. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 105 

" Let men," says he, " beware how they neglect or suffer 
matter of troubles to be prepared ; for no man can for- 
bid the sparks that may set all on fire." ' It was resolved 
that, on the 29th of November, the House should go 
into committee ' to consider of the state of the nation 
in reference to Scotland.' 

On the appointed day there was a full muster of the 
peers ; the Queen was present ; and Rochester moved 
that the Act of Security be read. In this he was sup- 
ported by the Tories, and by the High Churchmen in 
particular ; but the Whigs resisted this motion, on the 
ground that there was no authentic copy before the 
House, and the debate proceeded. 

Godolphin, who, it was noticed at the time, did not 
shrink from the responsibility of having advised the 
Queen to give the royal assent, said that it had been 
absolutely necessary to allow the Act of Security to 
become law. The danger of refusing it would have 
been greater than the danger of granting it. He 
deplored the system of irritating the Scottish people by 
constant interference in their business. Everything, in 
his opinion, would come right, if they would only let 
the Scots alone. 

Burnet followed on the same side. Ever, he said, 
since the Union of the Crowns Scotland had been 
mismanaged. What could have been more reckless 
than the conduct of England in the reign of Charles i. ? 



io6 FAMOUS SCOTS 

At the Restoration a promise had been given that Scot- 
land would be governed in accordance with the wishes 
of the people. This promise had been broken, and 
during the reigns of Charles ii. and James ii. the Scots 
had been persecuted and oppressed. At the Revolution 
religious persecution ceased; but since then the com- 
mercial poHcy of England had been enough to provoke 
them beyond endurance. 

This plain speaking was not very palatable to an 
assembly of EngHshmen, but those Scotsmen who 
listened to the debate were delighted. 'The Whigs,' 
Roxburghe wrote to Baillie of Jerviswoode, ' were modest 
in their business, but the Tories were mad.' 

It was evident that there was a considerable difference 
of opinion between the two great parties as to the 
proper method of dealing with the Scottish question. 
Somers and Halifax, Rochester and Nottingham, alike 
regarded the Act of Security as dangerous, but they 
differed as to the course which England should pursue. 
Nottingham and his friends were for condemning the 
Act by a vote of the House; but the Whigs resisted 
this, on the ground that it amounted to a vote of 
censure on the Scottish Parliament. Somers, in a few 
weighty words, moved the adjournment of the debate. 
England, he said, must protect herself against the con- 
sequences of the Act of Security; but whatever was 
done, must be done calmly and without panic. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 107 

On the 6th of December he resumed the debate, when 
he laid down the principle that the Parliament of England 
must prove to the Scottish people that if they insisted 
on a complete separation they would be the greatest 
losers. He suggested, therefore, that an Act should 
be passed so framed as to bring the issue clearly and 
distinctly before them ; an Act, for instance, imposing 
certain disabilities on the Scots, which would only be 
removed if they settled the Succession as it had been 
settled in England. Above all things, he urged the 
necessity of adopting none but deliberate and well- 
considered measures. 

The result of these debates was that on the 14th of 
March 1705, the last day of the session, the royal 
assent was given to the statute which empowered the 
Queen to name Commissioners to treat for an 
Union, provided that the Scottish Parliament passed 
a similar measure; but the statute, at the same time, 
declared that, after the 25th of December 1705, natives 
of Scotland were to be held as aliens until the Succes- 
sion was settled in Scotland as it already was in 
England. This was the chief clause of this important 
measure, which was therefore known as the Alien Act. 

The news of what had been done was received with 
an outburst of indignation in Scotland ; but the Union 
was now inevitable. 




CHAPTER VIII 

A Ministerial Crisis, and a Change of Government in Scotland — The 
Government is defeated — The Limitations again — Fletcher's Duel 
with Roxburghe — The Act for a Treaty of Union passed. 

The English Ministers had for some time suspected 
that Tweeddale and his party were not strong enough 
to carry on the Government of Scotland, and in Feb- 
ruary 1705 Argyll wrote to Leven, informing him that 
there was to be a change. Tweeddale was to be offered 
the place of President of the Council. Seafield was to 
be Lord Chancellor. Annandale was to be Secretary of 
State. *And I am to be Commissioner,' he added. 
He had already been consulted as to the changes ; but 
he had taken no one into his confidence except Queens- 
berry and Annandale. They alone were in the secret ; 
but 'the Whigs here^ are positive that Mr. Jonson 
must be out.' Johnston, who had been Lord Clerk 
Register, was dismissed ; and a few days after that 
event the new Commissioner started for the north. 

The young Duke of Argyll, although not yet thirty, 
had already distinguished himself as a soldier, and was 

1 In London, 

loa 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 109 

believed to possess the talents which were needed in 
the troublesome office of Commissioner to the Scottish 
Estates. But besides his personal qualifications there 
were other reasons for appointing him. His great-grand- 
father had been one of the first victims of the Restora- 
tion. His grandfather was that Earl of Argyll whose 
rash expedition to Scotland Fletcher had attempted 
in vain to prevent, but whose calmness on the eve of 
death had overwhelmed his enemies with shame, and 
made such an impression on his countrymen that 'the 
last sleep of Argyll' was, for long years afterwards, 
spoken of as a noble example of Christian and patriotic 
fortitude. His father, who had returned from exile at 
the Revolution, was the first Duke of Argyll. The 
fortunes of the family, ruined under the Stuart tyranny, 
were now mending. The young Duke was hereditary 
Justiciar of Scotland. It was said that three thousand 
clansmen were ready to draw the claymore at his call. 
He was trusted by the Presbyterians — an important 
matter, as Godolphin was well aware. Above all 
things, the Argylls were to be depended upon in an 
emergency such as the present. In office or out of 
office, whether their private characters were good or 
bad, they never swerved from their Whig principles. 
The place of Commissioner had therefore been ofiered 
to the Duke. He hesitated, and would have declined, 
if left to himself, but Queensberry persuaded him to 



no FAMOUS SCOTS 

accept the office ; and on the 9th of April he started 
for Scotland, 'attended,' says Cunningham, 'with a 
number of highlanders and swordsmen, in whom he 
took great delight.' 

When the Commissioner reached Scotland the effects 
of the Alien Act were beginning to be felt. About thirty 
thousand head of cattle and great flocks of sheep had 
been annually exported from Scotland to England. 
But since the passing of the Act these had to remain 
on the north side of the Cheviots, and the breeders had 
no market for their stock, or had to sell at a ruinous 
loss in Scotland. Every branch of trade was paralysed ; 
and no one knew what to propose as a remedy for the 
deplorable condition of the country.^ It was a time 
when any scheme, however chimerical, was listened to ; 
and amongst those who, full of projects for retrieving 
the finances of Scotland, awaited the arrival of the 
Commissioner were two well-known men, Hugh Cham- 
berlen and John Law of Lauriston. Chamberlen's pro- 
posal of a Land Bank, already tried and found wanting 
in England during the last reign, was now about to be 
propounded in Scotland. Law was on intimate terms 
with Argyll and with Tweeddale, both of whom were 
charmed by his high spirits and good breeding. He had 
just published his proposals for curing the ills of Scot- 
land. His intimacy with the Commissioner was certain 

1 Roxburghe to Godolphin, 24th March 1705. Add. MSS. 28,055. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN iii 

to gain at least a fair hearing for his plans ; but, in the 
meantime, Argyll's time was fully occupied with pre- 
parations for the meeting of Parliament. 

In the intrigues of the next few weeks, which are now 
to be described, the political parties in Scotland took 
the form which they retained until the Parliament of 
Scotland came to an end. Argyll and Queensberry had 
already agreed privately that the Scottish Ministry was 
to be rearranged ; and as soon as he reached Edinburgh 
Argyll came to the conclusion that the 'New Party' 
must be dismissed at once. He then took the advice 
of Glasgow and Annandale as to how the business of 
the session was to be managed, and their opinion was 
that Tweeddale, Roxburghe, and some of their friends 
must resign before Parliament met. It was agreed that 
letters expressing this opinion should be written to 
Godolphin. 'If her Majesty,' Glasgow wrote, *be 
pleased to make the Government all of a piece, thor- 
oughly upon the Revolution bottom, it is the only 
means left to retrieve the mismanagement of the last 
Parliament, when the prerogative and the monarchy so 
extremely suffered, and to pull us out of the confusion 
we at present lie under.' Seafield declined to advise 
Godolphin ; but in his letter he gives an account of the 
general drift of opinion amongst the members of Parlia- 
ment. 'All,' he says, 'that I speak with of the Old 
Party are of one of these two opinions : First, that 



112 FAMOUS SCOTS 

there be a treaty set on foot for an entire Union betwixt 
the two kingdoms, or for commerce and other advan- 
tages, leaving the nomination of the Commissioners to 
her Majesty ; or second, that there be an Act of Suc- 
cession, with conditions and limitations on the successor, 
and that we have free trade and commerce established 
with England as we had before the Act of Navigation.' 
Annandale also wrote and expressed his approval of 
the proposal to change the Ministry.^ 

Argyll and Annandale had long been friends, and 
during the preceding winter and spring their friendship 
had increased. By the influence of Argyll Annandale 
had been appointed to represent her Majesty at the 
General Assembly of the Scottish Church, which had 
just been held. It was on his advice that the letters to 
Godolphin had been written. But at this point dif- 
ferences arose between them, which ended in a complete 
separation. Argyll, having no doubt that the English 
Ministers would agree to the dismissal of the New Party, 
wished to settle at once how the vacant offices were to 
be filled, and, a few days after the letters to Godolphin 
had been despatched, he called a meeting of his friends 
to discuss the subject. At this meeting Annandale was 
for delay. It would be time enough, he said, to think 
about new appointments when they had received an 

1 These letters of Glasgow, Seafield, and Annandale to Godolphin 
are all dated 26th April 1705. Add. mss. 28,055. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 113 

answer from London. Argyll, however, said that he had 
promised to send a list of names * within two or three 
days ' ; and at the same time he suggested that Loudoun 
should be Secretary, in place of Roxburghe. Annandale 
muttered something to himself, and then said that 
Loudoun was well fitted for the place, but he was 
married to Stair's daughter, and to appoint him would 
be to aggrandise the Stair family, and that would ' raise 
a dust in the Parliament.' On this Argyll gave way for 
the sake of peace, and nothing was arranged. 

But in a few days Glasgow and Leven waited upon 
Annandale, and informed him that the Commissioner 
begged him to concur in recommending Loudoun as 
Secretary. Annandale was a most difficult man to deal 
with. 'Even those of the Revolution Party,' says 
Lockhart, ' only employed him, as the Indians worship 
the devil, out of fear.' He refused, point blank, to 
comply with Argyll's request, and never after acted 
cordially with him. There can be no doubt that this 
episode was the real cause of Annandale's opposition to 
the Union in the following year. 

The next post from London brought a letter, from 
which it was evident that the Ministers wished to delay 
the change of Government in Scotland. Argyll instantly 
sent off an answer, in which he said that he would not 
act as Commissioner unless his advice was taken. 
This threat of resignation produced the desired effect, 

H 



114 FAMOUS SCOTS 

and Argyll received authority to construct an Adminis- 
tration as he thought best. 

Forthwith Tweeddale, Rothes, Roxburghe, Selkirk, 
Belhaven, and Baillie of Jerviswoode were informed 
that their resignations would be accepted. They took 
their dismissal with a good grace, and formed themselves 
into the party which was thenceforth known as the 
Squadrone Volante — a name which perhaps Fletcher, 
the student of Italian, may have suggested. Led by 
Tweeddale, Montrose, Rothes, Roxburghe, and March- 
mont among the peers, and by Baillie of Jerviswoode 
among the commons, the policy of the Squadrone was 
to hold the balance between the Government and the 
combined forces of the Jacobites and the Old Country 
Party, to which Fletcher and the irreconcilable national- 
ists adhered. They mustered about thirty votes. Bel- 
haven, piqued at losing office, did not join them, 
but preferred to form schemes for breaking up the 
Parliament. 

The arrangements for the new Administration were 
soon completed, and in the list which was sent up to 
London Loudoun and Annandale were named as 
Secretaries, Glasgow became Treasurer-Depute, Queens- 
berry was Lord Privy Seal, while Cockburn remained 
in office as Lord Justice-Clerk, and Seafield as Chan- 
cellor. 

It was entirely a Whig Ministry, but there were 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 115 

differences of opinion as to what line they should take. 
It was soon found that Annandale and Cockburn were 
in favour of pressing the settlement of the Hanoverian 
Succession, and leaving the Union alone. Sir James 
Stewart, the Lord Advocate, whose great influence 
with the Presbyterians made it desirable that he should 
act cordially, refused to commit himself. Baillie, now 
a member of the Squadrone, had an interview of two 
hours with him at this time, when he first said he 
intended to support a Succession Act, and then that 
he was in favour of an Union ; and at last Baillie 
came to the conclusion that he was 'for no settle- 
ment whatsoever.' 

The Commissioner, acting on the advice of Stair, 
used all his influence in favour of an Union. Queens- 
berry had not yet left London. Lockhart goes so far 
as to say that he was so unpopular that he was afraid 
to face the Scottish Parliament, and that he had sent 
down Argyll, 'using him as the monkey did the cat 
in pulling out the hot roasted chestnuts.' The help 
of Queen sberry was, however, urgently needed, and 
Glasgow was of opinion that the only way to settle 
the Succession question was for him to come down 
to assist Argyll. A combination of their friends would, 
he was certain, secure a majority. 

Meantime the meeting of Parliament was close at 
hand, and it was necessary that the views of the 



ii6 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Scottish Government should be laid before the Minis- 
ters in London, so that the Queen's letter to the 
Estates might be prepared in time. On the night of 
the 30th of May Argyll consulted his colleagues. 
At this meeting (a * Cabinet Council') Annandale 
insisted that the Succession should be earnestly pressed. 
Argyll pointed out that the support of Queensberry's 
friends could not be counted on. In the last session 
they had supported Hamilton's resolution postponing 
the settlement of the Crown until a commercial treaty 
with England had been adjusted. They would not, 
he feared, ' make so short a turn.' But if a Treaty of 
Union was proposed, they would probably support it, 
and also vote the supplies. Another proposal was 
that the Succession should be tried first, and if it 
failed, then they could fall back upon the Union. 
Cockburn was strongly in favour of a Succession Act. 
* In my opinion,' he said, * the treaty is but a handle 
to throw off the Succession, for I don't find ten men 
of the ParHament will go in for an entire and com- 
plete Union ; so there is no prospect of a treaty taking 
effect.' 

Of eight members of the Government who gave 
their opinions, six were in favour of a Treaty of Union, 
and two, Cockburn and Annandale, were for a Suc- 
cession Act. But, in the end, two draughts of a royal 
letter were sent up to London. In one of these the 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 117 

Union was put foremost, and in the other the Succes- 
sion. The responsibihty of advising the Queen which 
she should sign was left to Godolphin and his col- 
leagues. In due course the royal letter arrived, along 
with the Queen's instructions to Argyll, and it was 
found that the preference had been given to the 
draught in which the Succession Act was put foremost. 
The instructions were to the effect that the Commis- 
sioner was to do his best to secure the passing of 
a Succession Act for Scotland, in terms similar to 
that by which the Crown of England had been settled 
on the house of Hanover. If the Estates would not 
agree to this, then an Act for the Union of England 
and Scotland was, if possible, to be carried, and it 
was to contain a clause leaving the appointment of 
Commissioners in the hands of the Queen. He was 
also expressly forbidden to allow the question of the 
Scots Plot to be opened up again.^ 

The result of the recent changes in the Ministry, and 
of the intrigues which have just been described, was 

1 I have taken my account of the ministerial crisis in Scotland, and 
of the events which took place there before the session of 1705, chiefly 
from the Godolphin Correspondence in the British Museum, Add. MSS. 
28,055, and from a memorial dated 21st Sept. 1705, among Add. 
MSS. 28,085 (fol. 225). This memorial seems to be Argyll's account 
of the session written for the use of Godolphin. An article in the 
Edinburgh Review, No. 362 (Oct. 1892), contains further information, 
and may be compared with ' A Brief View of the late Scots Ministry, 
Somers State Tracts, xii. 617, and a pamphlet entitled Vul'-one; or. 
Remarks on some Proceedings in Scotland relating to the Succession 
and the Union. Printed 1707. 



ii8 FAMOUS SCOTS 

that the various poUtical parties in Scotland now took 
the shape which they retained until the Parliament 
of Scotland was abolished. There were the supporters 
of the Government, known as the Old or Court Party, 
or simply as the Whigs. There was the regular 
Opposition, consisting partly of Jacobites or Tories, 
and partly of Fletcher's followers, the Old Country 
Party, who were determined to oppose the Union and 
the Succession also unless they could obtain good 
terms for Scotland. In the third place there was 
the Squadrone Volante, the party formed by the dis- 
carded Ministers out of what had been called the 
New Party when Tweeddale was in office. They 
declined to commit themselves ; but it would be a 
great injustice to assert that the Squadrone acted, in 
any way, the part of dissatisfied placemen. They 
were certainly reserved in their attitude towards the 
Ministry, but they never behaved in a factious or 
discreditable manner. 'They were in great credit,' 
says Burnet, 'because they had no visible bias on 
their minds.' 

When the Parliament met on the 28th of June, the 
position of Argyll and the other Ministers was one of 
peculiar difficulty. In six months the Alien Act would 
come into full force, if they did not succeed in per- 
suading the Estates to accept either the Hanoverian 
Succession or a Treaty of Union. Even now Scotland 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 119 

was suffering from those clauses of the Act which 
were already in force ; but if the Estates were obdurate 
greater evils were in store, and the coming Christmas 
would bring to the people of this island a message, 
not of peace and goodwill, but of civil war and dis- 
cord. And it was soon apparent that the members were 
not in a complacent mood; for on the 17th of July, 
Hamilton moved that the Parliament should refuse 
to name a successor to the throne until the com- 
mercial relations of the two countries were settled; 
and further, that before naming a successor they 
should fix such conditions of government as would 
secure the independence of Scotland. This motion 
was carried, through the help of Queensberry's friends, 
who supported Hamilton to the number of thirty, by 
a majority of forty-three. Next day the Ministers met, 
and resolved that the Succession must be given up, 
and an Act for a Treaty of Union introduced.^ 

In the meantime the Government had been anxiously 
awaiting the arrival of Queensberry; and now, news 
having come that he was on his way to the north, Mar, 
on behalf of the Ministers, introduced an Act for a 
Treaty of Union. This was on the 20th of July, and 
three days later Queensberry arrived. 'He made,' 
Boyer says, * a public entry with greater splendour and 
magnificence than the three times he had been Com- 
1 Seafield to Godolphin, i8th July 1705. Add. MSS. 28,055. 



I20 FAMOUS SCOTS 

missioner.' On the following morning he took his 
seat as Lord Privy Seal. 

The members of the Parliament were now canvassed 
by Seafield, Argyll, and Queensberry, and it was found 
that many of them were prepared to vote for an Union. 
But, when the question came before the Estates, it was 
evident that the Opposition were as determined as ever. 
Fletcher made a long speech, in which he argued that 
no treaty should even be considered until the hostile 
clauses of the Alien Act were repealed ; and Hamilton 
moved that the Estates should discuss the questions of 
trade and limitations before that of Union. The dis- 
cussion showed a formidable combination against the 
Government, who were defeated by a majority of four. 
It seemed as if Fletcher and Hamilton had brought all 
business to a deadlock, and as if neither the Succession 
nor the Union could be carried. In the opinion of 
Argyll, however, the division showed who were for the 
Government, and who aimed at ' nothing but confusion.' 
The Ministers, accordingly, resolved not to adjourn, 
but to sit, and see 'if we could not retrieve the 
treaty.' 

Trade and limitations on the next Sovereign of Scot- 
land now engaged the attention of the Parliament. 
The rival schemes of Law and Chamberlen were brought 
forward — schemes for improving the financial condition 
of Scotland, by means of Land Banks and a wholesale 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 121 

issue of paper money. Preposterous as these plans 
were, they were fully debated ; and there seems to have 
been a feeling in favour of Chamberlen's proposal, 
because the English Parliament had rejected it. Argyll 
and Tweeddale gave some support to Law. Hamilton 
laughed at them both; and, in the end, a resolution 
was passed 'that the forcing any paper credit by an 
Act of Parliament was unfit for this nation.' 

During the discussions on this subject, Fletcher 
moved that the two financiers should be confronted with 
each other. Roxburghe said it would be unfair to Law 
to make him appear, without first finding out if he was 
willing. ' Mr. Law,' he said, * or any gentleman that 
has employed his time and thoughts for the good of 
his country, ought to be treated with good manners.' 
* If any one,' said Fletcher, ' taxes me with bad manners, 
he is unmannerly, and not I.' 

On this Roxburghe turned to the Chancellor, and 
said, ' I did not mean to accuse any member of bad 
manners, but since that worthy member thinks him- 
self struck at, he may, if he pleases, take it so.' * I 
take it as I ought,' retorted Fletcher. The Com- 
missioner, seeing that a challenge was inevitable, 
gave orders that, as soon as the House rose, both 
should be arrested. Roxburghe was taken into custody 
at his own house, where he remained in charge of 
an officer. 



122 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Fletcher was found in a tavern. When the officer 
came to take him, he said there must be some mistake, 
as he had given no occasion for being arrested ; and so 
adroit was he that the officer actually went away to 
ask the Commissioner for orders. Fletcher, who had 
already sent a challenge, by the hands of Lord Charles 
Kerr, to Roxburghe, at once left the tavern — probably 
Patrick Steel's ? — and drove down with Lord Charles to 
Leith, where he remained all next day waiting for his 
opponent. 

Roxburghe, meanwhile, hearing that Fletcher was at 
liberty, induced his friends to persuade Argyll to remove 
the arrest; and, as soon as he was free, he and his second, 
Baillie of Jerviswoode, drove to Leith about six in the 
evening. There they found Fletcher waiting on the 
sands. The seconds tried to make up the quarrel, 
but Fletcher insisted in obtaining satisfaction for the 
affront which he considered himself to have received in 
Parliament House. Roxburghe was as ready, and they 
drew their swords. But Baillie 'stept between 'em,' 
and said that a duel with swords would be unfair, as 
Roxburghe had a weak right leg. At these words 
Fletcher sheathed his sword, and, producing two pairs 
of pistols, oifered Roxburghe his choice. At that 
moment a party of the Horse-guards, who had been 
sent to look for them, appeared in sight, to the joy of 
the seconds, who persuaded their principals to fire two 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 123 

shots in the air ; and then the whole party drove back 
to Edinburgh.^ 

When the Estates went into the question of Limita- 
tions, Rothes introduced a measure for regulating the 
mode of appointing Privy Councillors and other officers 
of the Crown, and Belhaven introduced another for 
triennial Parliaments. Both these measures were 
popular with the House. But Fletcher was not satis- 
fied, and he again brought forward his own pet scheme. 
His Twelve Limitations, which the Estates had, in the 
session of 1703, declined to incorporate in the Act of 
Security, were now known as the Duodecem Tabulae, 
the Twelve Tables of the Law. But Fletcher himself was 
in no joking humour when he moved that the Estates 
should solemnly adopt them as a Claim of Rights, not 
requiring the consent of the Sovereign. 

On the 15th of August he made an elaborate speech 
upon the subject. He was listened to in silence, and, 
when he sat down, was asked to withdraw his motion. 
But the more he was appealed to the stiffer he became. 
A debate of four hours followed, in the course of which 
he fell foul of Stair. Stair had sneered at the tenth 
limitation, which provided that no pardon granted by 
the Crown, for any offence, should be valid without the 
consent of Parliament; and Fletcher thereupon ex- 

1 Add. MSS. 28,055, fo^- 248. This is a document endorsed, ' To Mr. 
Harley. ' It is evidently the report of a spy, one of the many employed 
by Harley. 



124 FAMOUS SCOTS 

claimed, ' It is no wonder his Lordship is against this, 
for had there been such a law he would have been 
hanged long ago for the advice he gave King James, 
the murder of Glencoe, and his whole conduct since 
the Revolution.' But the feeling of the House was 
against him. He saw this, and, muttering to himself, 
* Well, is it so ? I '11 serve them a trick for it,' he 
announced that he would not press the subject, but 
would move that the House should consider the 
measures which had been brought in by Rothes and 
Belhaven.^ 

On the following day, when Rothes moved the second 
reading of his measure, Fletcher again tried to bring 
forward his favourite subject, which led Stair to say that 
the honourable member was resolved to do by his 
Limitations as the ape did by her young, grasp them so 
tight that she stifled them. Fletcher lost his temper, 
and called out that the noble lord had, in the days of 
King James, stretched the prerogative till it nearly 
cracked, when he penned the declaration of arbitrary 
power. 

This was a very palpable hit, but the Chancellor rose 
and stopped the altercation by moving that the House 
should proceed to business ; and on a vote being taken 
whether the Estates, or the Sovereign with the consent 
of the Estates, should appoint Privy Councillors, 
1 Add. Mss. 28,055, fo^' ^17' 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 125 

Judges, and other officers, it carried in favour of the 
Estates by twenty -three, in spite of the opposition of the 
Government. Nothing, however, came of these wild 
expedients for Hmiting the power of the Crown. The 
Estates passed Acts for triennial Parliaments, for giving 
to Parliament the power of appointing officers of the 
Crown, and for securing the presence of Scottish 
ambassadors at the making of all treaties, but to these 
enactments the royal assent was refused. The pro- 
posals for improving the trade of the country took the 
form of a number of measures, only a few of which 
received the royal assent. The general purpose of 
these measures was Protection to home trade and 
manufactures, and retaliation on England for passing 
the Alien Act. Of these the royal assent was given to 
an Act forbidding the importation of English, Irish, and 
foreign butter and cheese, to an Act for assisting the 
fisheries of Scotland, to an Act for encouraging the 
exportation of beef and pork, and to another declaring 
Scottish linen and woollen manufactures free of duty at 
exportation. In addition to these there was a statute, 
which was considered the most important of all, for 
appointing a Council of Trade for Scotland. 

In the meantime the Government were waiting an 
opportunity for again bringing forward the question of 
the Union ; and at last, on the 24th of August, Mar's 
resolution on the subject was discussed. Fletcher 



126 FAMOUS SCOTS 

moved, a few days later, an address lo the throne, 
complaining of the way in which Scotland had been 
treated by the English Parliament, which he declared 
to be * injurious to the honour and interest of this 
nation.' Though this address was not adopted, Hamil- 
ton pressed upon the House a resolution binding the 
Estates to resist any Union which would change the 
fundamental laws of the Scottish constitution. At this 
point the Country Party appear to have agreed to the 
principle of an Union; but they were resolved that the 
Scottish Parliament, the outward sign and instrument 
of an independent national existence, must not be 
abolished. Gradually the Act for a Treaty of Union took 
shape ; but, when the Government were congratulating 
themselves on having weathered the storm, Fletcher 
moved to amend the Act by inserting a clause to pro- 
vide that the Commissioners for Union should not 
meet until the * Alien Clause ' of the recent English 
Act w^as repealed. He and his friends, both Jacobites 
and members of the Old Country Party, probably 
believed that England would refuse to treat on such 
terms, and that, therefore, the Union, w^hich he now 
saw was threatening the independence of Scotland, 
would collapse. It was likely that the Government 
would be defeated if Fletcher's amendment was openly 
opposed, and the dexterous hand of Queensberry is 
seen in the way in which the difficulty was met. The 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 127 

Government professed to agree with the object of the 
amendment, but proposed that, instead of adding it to 
the Union Act, the House should, as soon as that Act 
was passed, proceed to consider whether the question 
of the Ahen Clause should form the subject of a resolu- 
tion of the Estates or of a separate Act of Parliament. 
Fletcher agreed to this, and his motion stands on the 
rolls of the Scottish Parliament in these terms : * Then 
agreed and ordered, neniine contradicente^ that the 
Commissioners to be named by Her Majesty for the 
Kingdom of Scotland shall not commence the Treaty 
of Union until the clause in the English Act declaring 
the subjects of Scotland aliens be rescinded.' The 
Scottish Ministers, in transmitting this resolution to 
London, carefully explained that they had found it 
necessary, if the Union was to go on, to comply with 
the wish of the Estates that some resentment should be 
expressed against England.^ 

But before this point was reached there had been a 
very sharp debate regarding the appointment of the 
Commissioners on Union. The story is told by Lock- 
hart, and is well known. At a late hour on the evening 
of Saturday the ist of September, when most of the 
members had left in the belief that the House was 
about to rise, Hamilton suddenly addressed the Chan- 
cellor, and moved that the nomination of the Com- 
1 Halifax to Godolphin, 4th Sept. 1705. Add. mss. 28,055. 



128 FAMOUS SCOTS 

missioners should be left to the Queen. Some members 
of the Opposition rushed from the House, shouting 
that they were betrayed ; but Fletcher sprang to his 
feet, and made a personal attack on Hamilton for his 
inconsistency in making this proposal. * Saltoun opposed 
that most bitterly,' says Sir David Hume, in his diary. 
But it was in vain. The vote was called for, and 
Hamilton's motion was carried.^ ' From this day,' says 
Lockhart, 'we may date the commencement of Scot- 
land's ruin.' 

The session ended quietly on the 2 ist of September, 
when the Commissioner touched with the sceptre the 
Acts to which he had obtained leave to give the royal 
assent, of which the most important was the ' Act for a 
Treaty with England.' 

1 Lockhart says, 'by a plurality of eight voices, of which His 
Grace The Duke of Hamilton had the honour to be one ' {Memoirs, 
i. 133). Sir David Hume says the majority was forty. 



CHAPTER IX 

The Union Commission at Westminster — The Act of Union passed — 
Belhaven's Speech — Violent conduct of Fletcher and other Mem- 
bers during the Debates. 

When the English Parliament met in October, not only 
the Alien clause, but all the hostile clauses of which 
the Estates complained, were repealed. Whether Flet- 
cher was pleased that the object of his motion was 
so completely and speedily gained may be doubted; 
but there was now nothing to prevent the progress of 
the negotiations for the Union. So the Commissioners 
of both nations met at Westminster on the i6th of 
April 1706. 

The result of their labours still remains. The ques- 
tion which they had to face was how to adjust the 
relations of the two countries in a manner consistent 
with a complete Union. It was not enough to say that 
there was to be one Sovereign, one Parliament, and 
equal trading privileges. The Union meant far more 
than that. Although the machinery of Government and 
the modes of social life were simpler then than they 

I 



I30 FAMOUS SCOTS 

now are, the problem of applying the principle of a full 
and incorporating Union to the usages of the two 
nations was one of the most formidable character. 
The institutions and the internal economy of the two 
peoples were, in many respects, entirely different. If 
they were to be really united, if they were to become 
one people in their interests and their aspirations, it 
was necessary that, at the commencement of their 
common national life, there should be a clear under- 
standing of the precise terms on which they stood 
to one another. The difficulty of arriving at such an 
understanding was enormous. The one nation was rich, 
the other was poor. In what proportions were they to 
contribute to the common treasury ? Each had a public 
debt ; but the debt of England was far heavier than the 
debt of Scotland ; and some equitable adjustment of the 
national liabiUties must be arranged. Each nation had 
its own laws. Were these to be assimilated, or left un- 
changed ? What was to be the form of that one Parlia- 
ment, on which the responsibility of enacting laws for 
the United Kingdom was now to be devolved ? Was 
there to be one executive for England, and another for 
Scotland ? The incidence of taxation was different in 
each country. The customs and the excise and the 
manner of their collection was different. The coinage 
of England was different from that of Scotland. All 
these matters were now to be considered and adjusted, if 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 131 

possible, in a fair and reasonable manner ; so that the 
Articles of Union should be ratified by the two Parlia- 
ments, and favourably received by the nations. Such 
were some of the difficult questions which were dis- 
cussed by the Union Commissioners at Westminster 
from April to July 1706; and the famous Treaty of 
Union, the result of their deliberations, is, upon the 
whole, one of the most successful works of practical 
statesmanship which the world has ever seen. 

On Monday the 22nd of July 1706 the Commis- 
sioners of both Kingdoms met at Westminster and 
signed the Treaty of Union ; and on the following 
morning they went to St. James's, and presented the 
document to her Majesty. 

The Scottish Parliament was to meet upon the 3rd 
October, and the Government wished to keep the 
Articles of Union secret until then. No copies of the 
Treaty were allowed to pass into circulation. A pro- 
clamation forbidding the making of wagers upon the 
subject was strictly enforced, and a strong effort was 
made to prevent the publication of writings about the 
Union. But it was, of course, impossible to stop the 
discussion of so momentous a question ; all the more, 
as many persons were in possession of the main out- 
lines of the Treaty. The Whigs had already made up 
their minds that the Articles would be ratified by the 
Estates; and even the most violent members of the 



132 FAMOUS SCOTS 

Jacobite and Country Parties saw that the general 
feeling of Scotland was now favourable to the Union, a 
fact which Lockhart explains by saying that false 
accounts of the Articles were given by the Scottish 
Commissioners on their return from England. *We 
have,' Halifax writes, 'all the reason to promise our- 
selves success in an Union with Scotland. All the 
letters from that country give us great hopes that it will 
be accepted by their Parliament.' ^ 

In the discussions which now took place, the com- 
munity seems to have been divided into three classes : 
those who were distinctly in favour of an Union, those 
who were distinctly opposed to it, and those who were 
in favour of an Union, provided the separate Parliament 
of Scotland was allowed to remain. If Fletcher was the 
author of a pamphlet which has been attributed to him, 
entitled, The State of the Controversy betwixt United and 
Separate Parliaments^ he must be reckoned as amongst 
the last class ; and, indeed, he seldom expressed any 
opinion which was not consistent with supporting a 
federal Union. But it is very doubtful whether he 
wrote this pamphlet. He was, however, supposed to be 
writing, while the Commission was sitting at West- 
minster, in favour of a dissolution, on the ground that 
the question could only be lawfully settled by a Parlia- 

1 Halifax to the Elector of Hanover, 23rd August 1706. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 133 

ment elected for that purpose by the constituencies.^ 
But, though the press was busy printing pamphlets 
on the subject of the Union, the time for such discus- 
sions was past, and everything depended on what was 
done on the floor of the Parliament House. 

During the discussions on the Articles of Union 
Fletcher displayed the same courage, and the same 
defects of temper, as during the previous sessions of 
the Parliament. Sir David Hume, in his diary, fre- 
quently mentions the scenes in which the member for 
Haddingtonshire was the leader. For instance, on one 
occasion, when it was proposed that a sermon should 
be preached, on a 'Fast Day,' in the Parliament 
House, a proposal which was supported by some 
lay members of the Commission, or Standing Com- 
mittee, of the Church of Scotland, *Salton having 
alleged that if he would tell what he knew, those of the 
Commission who were for that manner of the Fast 
would be ashamed to hold up their faces; he being 
challenged by several honourable members of the 
House, who were also members of the Commission, 



1 Baillie to Roxburghe, 19th April 1706, in the Jerviswoode Corre- 
spondence. The full title of the pamphlet to which I have alluded is : 
' State of the Controversy betwixt United and Separate Parliaments, 
whether these Interests which are to be united by the present Treaty, 
and the Interests which, by the same Treaty, are to remain separate 
and distinct, are most properly and safely lodged under the Guardian- 
ship of a United Parliament, or under that of Separate Parliaments. 
Printed in the year 1706. ' 



134 FAMOUS SCOTS 

the business was with some struggle let fall.' On the 
next day after this incident, Fletcher, in attacking the 
Commissioners on Union, said they had 'betrayed 
their trust.' He was called to order, but said he was 
'sorry he could not get softer words.' Then it was 
moved that he should be sent to the bar ; but at last he 
was persuaded to say he was sorry if he had offended 
any one, and the matter dropped. 

On another day Hume describes how, when he 
entered the Parliament House, he found an altercation 
going on, apparently over the Minutes of the last sitting. 
Fletcher said, ' What my Lord Stair has said in refer- 
ence to the Minutes is not true.' To this Stair answered 
that he * desired the House to take notice of what Sal- 
ton had said ; otherwise he would be obliged to say 
what he had said was a lie.' 

There was an hour's * discourse ' about this ; and then 
they were both called upon to ask pardon of the House. 
Fletcher at once apologised to the House, but ' shifted, 
craving Stair's pardon.' Stair then said, ' If what he 
had said offended the House, he craved pardon.' The 
Chancellor next appealed to Fletcher. He said he 
'hoped Salton would acknowledge that he meant no 
reflection on my Lord Stair, but only to contradict the 
thing he had said, and if he had given him any offence 
he craved his pardon, which,' Sir David goes on, ' Sal- 
ton assented to, and both of them gave their word of 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 135 

honour not to resent it without-doors.' There were 
many scenes of this description during the last session 
of the Scottish ParHament. The passion with which 
the debates were conducted was extraordinary. It was 
sometimes difficult to hear a word of what was said. 
'Scandalous disorder,' in the words of one member, 
challenges to fight on the floor of the House, shouting, 
interruptions, calls to order, Hamilton, whose voice was 
very loud, overbearing his opponents by sheer strength 
of lung, Fletcher springing to his feet, ready, at a 
moment's notice, to draw his sword,— it was amidst all 
this clamour and noise that the Union was debated. 

Perhaps the stormiest sittings of all that stormy 
session were those of the 2nd and 4th of November, 
when the first Article of Union was debated and voted 
on. It was on the first of these days that Belhaven 
made his great oration. It was certainly the event of 
that day ; and it is generally spoken of as the greatest 
speech delivered during the debates on the Union. 
But we have no means of knowing whether this was the 
case ; for no materials exist from which we can judge of 
the eloquence of Stair, whom all the writers of his time 
agree in describing as an orator of surpassing power, 
the greatest that ever spoke under the roof of the 
Parliament House. And though the palm of oratory 
belonged to Stair, he was not without rivals. When 
Roxburghe spoke, he charmed even his opponents. 



136 FAMOUS SCOTS 

The speeches of Argyll were full of passionate vehe- 
mence. Hamilton's pathetic eloquence is the theme of 
every Jacobite pen. Nor can it be doubted that Sea- 
field and Cockburn of Ormiston were adroit and ready 
debaters; while Fletcher's speeches in the session of 
1703 are, so far as polished language and close reason- 
ing go, superior to any of Belhaven's.^ But of all that 
was said in the debates of these two days, only two 
speeches have been preserved in full. The speech of 
Seton of Pitmedden, a plain country gentleman, is one 
of them. Its solid reasoning and sound conclusions, 
which events have justified, did not catch the public 
fancy. On the other hand, the speech of Belhaven, 
full of predictions, every one of which time has falsified, 
was eagerly received, was read by thousands, and is 
still to be found, in more than one reprint, in every 
private library in Scotland. Belhaven was a great 
actor; but it is one thing to gain applause, and an- 
other thing to gain votes. Burke producing a dagger 
on the floor of the House of Commons, Brougham 
kneeling on the woolsack, are examples, in more recent 
times, of how little impression is produced by the dis- 



1 None of Fletcher's speeches in the session of 1706-1707 are pre- 
served. The speaking in the Estates at this time was very good. 
The author of the Ochtertyre MS. says, in describing Mr. Spittal of 
Leuchat : ' He .♦•.poke the most elegant Scots I ever heard, probably 
the language spoken at the Union Parliament, which was composed of 
people of high fashion. ' 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 137 

play of dramatic powers ; and, both in its composition 
and its effects, it is as a theatrical display that the famous 
speech of Belhaven must be regarded. 

On the same day Fletcher spoke, ' with great warmth,' 
says Cunningham, *and vehemently reproached and 
inveighed against the Queen's Ministers, without any 
regard to his own fortune, though very large. Some 
there are who say that he was too hot in his argu- 
ments, and too violent in his resentments, and that 
he did thereby hurt his own cause.' 

But the cause was past helping or hurting now. 
The time for argument was gone. It was on Saturday 
the 2nd of November that Fletcher and Belhaven 
poured forth the vials of their wrath ; and on the 
following Monday the vote was taken. As is well 
known, the Squadrone threw in their lot with the Go- 
vernment, and the majority, by v/hich the Union was 
supported during the rest of the session, was secured. 

From that time until the i6th of January 1707, 
when the Treaty of Union was finally approved by 
the Estates, Fletcher continued to oppose the Govern- 
ment. As soon as the Act approving of the Treaty, 
with the changes made in it by the Estates, had been 
touched with the sceptre, it was sent up to London, 
to be discussed in Parliament; and the Estates con- 
tinued to sit for the transaction of formal business, 
and also to frame the Acts of Parliament which were 



138 FAMOUS SCOTS 

to regulate the method of electing the sixteen repre- 
sentative peers and the forty-five commoners who were 
to represent Scotland in the Parliament of Great 
Britain. 

Fletcher's last piece of business in the Scottish Par- 
liament was to move, ' That no peer, nor the eldest son 
of any peer, can be chosen to represent either shire or 
burgh of this part of the United Kingdom in the House 
of Commons.' This motion was rejected, by a majority 
of thirteen, in favour of an amendment providing that the 
elections for counties and burghs in Scotland should 
continue, as regards those who were capable of electing 
or being elected, on the same footing as before the 
Union. 

Fletcher may have been present, on the 19th of 
March, when the Act of the English Parliament rati- 
fying the Treaty of Union was presented to the Estates; 
but, according to tradition, he left Edinburgh immedi- 
ately after the House rose. ' On the day of his depar- 
ture, his friends crowded around him, entreating him to 
stay. Even after his foot was in the stirrup, they con- 
tinued their solicitations, anxiously crying, ** Will you 
forsake your country ? " He reverted his head, and 
darting on them a look of indignation, keenly replied, 
** It is only fit for the slaves that sold it ! " then leaped 
upon the saddle and put spurs to his horse, leaving the 
whole company struck with a momentary humiliation, 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 139 

and (blind to the extravagance of his conduct) at a loss 
which most to admire, the pride of his virtue, or the 
elevation of his spirit.' ^ 

And so, to the intense indignation of Fletcher, the 
old Scottish * Estates ' became a thing of the past. It 
would be difficult to find, in the history of any other 
country, laws more harsh and sanguinary than the long 
series of enactments which the Parliament of Scotland 
had passed for the purpose of suppressing liberty and 
increasing the power of the Crown. The independent 
spirit of the English people had constantly been re- 
flected in the independent spirit of the English Parlia- 
ment. The Scottish Parliament had been, before the 
Revolution, submissive to tyranny, because it did not 
fairly represent the people, and because of the defects 
which were engrained in its constitution. It had been 
a Parliament of which the only function, except on a 
few memorable occasions, was to pass, almost in silence, 
the laws which had been prepared by the King's ser- 
vants. It sat for only a few days in each session, and 
free debate was almost unknown. The franchise by 
which the county and burgh members were elected 
was always in the hands of a few persons ; and latterly, 
although a majority of the Scottish people were Presby- 



1 The author of the History of Modern Europe, in a series of Letters 
fro77t a Nobleman to his Son, who tells this story, says, * This anecdote 
the author had from the late Patrick, Lord Elibank.' 



I40 FAMOUS SCOTS 

terians, no one who was not an Episcopalian could be 
either an elector or a member. The savage laws, there- 
fore, which were passed, and which have frequently 
been quoted for the purpose of proving the slavish 
spirit of the Estates, were just the laws which, in an 
age of violence, might be expected to proceed from a 
legislature which represented only a tyrannical minority 
in the country. There were, indeed, times when the 
Scottish Parliament threw off the yoke. In the reign of 
Charles the First it extorted from the weakness of the 
King concessions which would never have been ob- 
tained by an appeal to his clemency ; and in the 
reign of James the Second even the Lords of the 
Articles refused to act any longer as the blind tools of 
despotic power. The occasions, however, on which 
the Estates resisted the royal authority had been few. 
There is, nevertheless, a brighter side to the picture ; 
for the Scottish statute law relating to private rights was 
equal, if not superior, to anything which the Enghsh 
Parliament had produced at the close of the seventeenth 
century. Wonder has often been expressed at the mar- 
vellously concise language of the Scottish Acts of Par- 
liament. But the explanation is very simple. Each 
statute was the work of one or two thoroughly trained 
lawyers, who knew exactly what they wished to say, and 
whose productions were not afterwards subjected to the 
unskilled criticism of a large assembly. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 141 

It is curious to remember that this admirable system 
of laws was the handiwork of the very men who were 
foremost in the business of suppressing the liberties of 
the nation. The period between the Restoration and 
the Revolution, every page of whose history is stained 
by crimes perpetrated under the sanction of the law, 
was the Augustan age of Scottish jurisprudence ; and 
the rolls of the Scottish Parliament during these years 
are full of statutes, dealing with almost every depart- 
ment of the law, and containing provisions which con- 
ferred real benefits on all classes of the people. 

Apart, then, from those laws which were destructive of 
public Hberty, the Scottish Parliament had done good 
work for Scotland even under the Stuarts. It was now 
free; and what Fletcher resented was not the Union 
with England, by which Scotland gained a great deal, 
but the destruction of the Scottish Parliament, which 
had become, not only the symbol of national inde- 
pendence, but a real instrument of self-government. 
It was evident that the wishes of the Scottish people 
could never prevail at Westminster, even in matters 
which concerned Scotland alone, against the prejudices 
or the ignorance of Englishmen, when Scotland was 
represented by only forty-five commoners and sixteen 
peers. But the Treaty had been ratified, and there 
was nothing more to be said. 



CHAPTER X 

Arrest of Fletcher— His Release— The Jacobite Prisoners of 1708— 
Death of Belhaven — Fletcher retires into, Private Life— Conversa- 
tions with Wodrow — His Death — Views of his Character. 

It is possible that Fletcher did not ride further than 
Saltoun ; but if he did leave Scotland as soon as the 
Union was accomplished, he was back again in the spring 
of the following year. At that time the country was 
alarmed by the fleet which was fitted out at Dunkirk 
by the French, and which sailed, with the Chevalier de 
St. George on board, for the shores of Scotland. The 
Habeas Corpus Act was suspended; and the Privy 
Council ordered the arrest of a number of suspected 
persons, among whom were the Duke of Gordon, the 
Marquis of Huntly, and no less than twenty other peers 
of Scotland. One of these was Belhaven. Many 
commoners, too, were taken up, such as Stirling of 
Keir, Cameron of Lochiel, Moray of Abercairney, 
Edmonstone of Newton, and other notorious Jacobites. 
But, strange to say, Fletcher was also arrested ; on what 
grounds it is difficult to surmise, for it seems impossible 

142 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 143 

to imagine that he could have been suspected of plotting 
for the return of the Stuarts. 

Fletcher took his arrest very quietly. ' All I fear,' 
he wrote to Leven, ' is that so inconsiderable a man as 
I may be forgot, and no further orders given about me/ 
His indifference was justified; for on the 15th of April 
1708 the Privy Council issued a warrant directing 
Leven to send all the prisoners up to London, ' Andrew 
Fletcher of Saltoun, Esq., only excepted.' After this 
Fletcher disappears from public life; and Belhaven 
too, but in a sadder fashion. A few lines may be spared 
to say farewell to Saltoun's old companion of the 
Country Party. Belhaven went almost mad with rage. 
As soon as he heard that a warrant was out for his 
arrest, he wrote an impetuous remonstrance to Leven, 
which he read aloud at a coffee-house before sending it 
off. After he was apprehended he addressed a letter to 
the Queen, demanding his release, * without bail, parole 
of honour, or any other suspicious engagement.' Then 
we find him despatching a long letter to Leven, protest- 
ing his innocence, and begging to be set at liberty. He 
is like a caged lion. He cannot rest. 'My good 
name is attacked,' he declares ; * I am called unfaithful 
to my God, and treacherous to my Queen. I must 
throw my stones about, I must cry and spare not.' A 
few days later, he writes a most pathetic letter. ' My 
wife,' he begins, 'who hath been my bedfellow those 



144 FAMOUS SCOTS 

thirty and four years, takes it much to heart to be 
separated from me now.' And then he asks authority 
for * my dear old wife to be enclosed as a prisoner in 
the same manner with me in everything.' Another of 
his arguments is that he has work awaiting him at home 
at Biel ; eight ploughs going, and a little lake to drain, 
and turn into meadowland. But he was never to see 
his home again. The prisoners were sent up to 
London; and there the eloquent Belhaven died of 
brain-fever, or, as some say, of a broken heart.^ 

Henceforth Fletcher's life was that of a private * person 
of quality.' He never married. When asked the 
reason why, he used to answer, * My brother has got 
the woman that should have been my wife.' This was 
Margaret Carnegie, the eldest daughter of Sir David 
Carnegie of Pittarrow. Perhaps Andrew Fletcher did 
not attract her — ' the low, thin man of brown complexion, 
full of fire, with a stern, sour look,' to quote the well- 
known description of the Laird of Saltoun. At all events 
she fell in love with Henry, the younger brother, who, 
besides, had this in his favour, that Andrew was an 
outlaw in Holland while he was paying his court to the 
young lady. Her father was at first against the marriage ; 

1 Some of the prisoners took matters more quietly. Stirling of Keir 
writes to his wife, from Newgate, in June : ' We are all very well and 
hearty, and I assure you this is a palace in comparison of the Tolboo h 
of Edinburgh.' — Sir William Eraser's Melville and Leven Book, ii. 
215-218 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 145 

but the young people insisted on having their own way, 
and they were married on the 27th of April 1688.^ The 
couple were very poor, and Henry became tenant of 
the mill at Saltoun, after the estate had been restored 
to his brother. Mrs. Henry Fletcher was a woman of 
great capacity, and it was she who, acting probably on 
hints given by her brother-in-law, got machinery from 
Holland, introduced the Dutch system of making ' pot 
barley,' till then unknown in Scotland, imported a 
winnowing machine, or fanners, and, in short, was the 
founder of the Saltoun Barley Mill, which was a house- 
hold word in Scotland for many years. *So jealous,' 
says Sir William Eraser, 'was Lady Saltoun of the 
secret of the construction of her machinery, and so 
anxious was she to retain a monopoly of this particular 
trade, that, whilst she occupied, during the day, a room 
in the mill specially fitted up for herself, all orders for 
barley were received across a door which was securely 
fastened by a chain to prevent strangers from entering.' 
This clever Scottish lady of the old school also started 
the manufacture of Holland cloth on a wide field near 
the mill; and in a hollow near Saltoun Hall the 
British Linen Company worked for many years, until 
they changed their business into that of a banking 
company. Perhaps a dame of so very practical a turn 

1 Sir William Eraser's History of 4he Carnegies, Earls of Southesk, 
ii. 275. 

K 



146 FAMOUS SCOTS 

would not have sympathised with the Utopian dreams 
of her famous brother-in-law, and had chosen wisely. 
The walls of a new mill which was erected at Saltoun 
in 1 710 are still as strong as when they were built; 
and some fragments of the old machinery still remain. 

During the latter part of his life Fletcher lived 
chiefly in England or abroad. Wodrow has preserved 
an account of some conversations which he had with 
him. On one occasion Fletcher told him that * he used 
to say to Sunderland, Wharton, and the leading Whigs 
in England, that they were the greatest fools imaginable 
in three things, and acted directly contrary to their 
interest : ist, In the settling of the Succession upon 
Hanover, he remarked that the Lutherans, and still the 
nearer people goes to Popery, they are still the more for 
absolute government ; and so much the more for a 
Tory. 2nd, In promoting and violently pushing the 
Union with Scotland, which now they are sensible is an 
addition to the power of the Court, and makes the 
Prince by far more absolute than' before ; and 3rd, In 
the affair of Sacheverell, when he (Fletcher) was in 
London, and conversed with them at that time, their 
pushing of his trial was the most unpopular thing they 
could do, and raised the cry of the "Danger of the 
Church," and proposed nothing in the world to them- 
selves by such a prosecution. Things were openly 
vented upon the behalf of absolute Government and 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 147 

non-resistance ; and the event has sadly verified all his 
thoughts as to this.'^ 

On another occasion Fletcher expounded his ideas 
on the subject of church patronage. He said a Pres- 
bytery was no judge of a young man's fitness to be 
minister of a congregation, and he had a plan of his 
own ready. He would appoint six Professors of 
Divinity in each University, none of whom were to 
teach more than ten or twelve students ; for they could 
not know more than that number intimately. These 
Professors were not only to lecture, but to watch the 
temper and character of each student, and license him 
when he was really capable of being a minister. Then, 
when a vacancy occurred, the Presbytery was to ask the 
Professor to send down a man whom they thought 
suited to the parish which was vacant. If the people 
did not like the man who was sent, another was to 
come ; and so on until the congregation was satisfied. 

Wodrow asked Fletcher if he had not thought of 
writing a History of the Union ; but he replied that he 
had kept no notes of the proceedings, and his memory 
was not to be relied on. He lamented his bad 
memory, and said he used to write out all his speeches, 
and repeat them, over and over again, to himself, like a 
schoolboy learning his lessons. He also said that he 

1 This conversation was in 1712, when the Tory Government of 
Harley and St. John was in office. 



148 FAMOUS SCOTS 

had so little readiness in debate, that if he did not know 
what subject was to be brought forward, he was obliged 
to prepare several speeches, which he laboriously 
learned by heart. 

In 1 716 Fletcher was in Paris, where he took ill. 
His nephew Andrew, afterwards a judge of the Court of 
Session under the title of Lord Milton, who was then 
studying at Leyden, hearing that his uncle wished to 
return home, hurried to Paris. They reached London, 
but the old gentleman was unable to go further. Lord 
Sunderland called on him, and asked if there was any- 
thing he wished done. ' I have a nephew,' he replied, 
'who has been studying the law. Make him a judge 
when he is fit for it.' ^ 

On the 15th of September 1716 he died; and his 
nephew brought his body to Scotland in a leaden coffin, 
which was laid in the family vault under the parish 
church of Saltoun, where it still remains. 

A scrap of paper among the manuscripts in the 
Bodleian Library at Oxford bears this curious memor- 
andum, in the handwriting of Thomas Rawlinson, the 
great antiquary and book collector : ' Andrew Fletcher 
of Saltoun, dyed in London, on Sunday, September i6th 
1 7 16, of a flux contracted by drinking ye waters of the 

1 'I have heard,* says Mr. Ramsay, 'Sir Hugh Paterson say, who 
knew Saltoun well, that he early predicted his nephew would turn out 
a corrupt fellow , and a perfect courtier. Saltoun, however, hated all 
Kings and Ministers of State.' — Ochtertyre MS. i. 87. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 149 

River Seine at Paris. He died Christianly and bravely, 
only concerned for ye ruin of his country, and yt he 
had been base enough to have kissed the hand of ye 
insulting Tyrant.' ^ 

He was succeeded, in the estate of Saltoun, by his 
brother Henry, and afterwards by his nephew, Andrew 
Fletcher of Milton, who, as Lord Justice-Clerk, was, 
for many years, the Duke of Argyll's right-hand man 
in the management of Scottish affairs. Many of the 
books collected by Fletcher are still preserved at 
Saltoun Hall, where there is a tablet with this inscrip- 
tion, 'This Library was built a.d. 1775, by Andrew 
Fletcher of Saltoun, to contain that excellent collection 
of books made by his great uncle of Illustrious Memory, 
whose name he bore. Lieutenant-General Henry 
Fletcher of Saltoun inscribes this marble to the 
memory of his lamented brother, and desires to re- 
mind their common successors that the Love of 
Letters or of Arms has always distinguished the family 
of Saltoun.' 

Fletcher occupies a peculiar place in the history of 
Scottish Literature. His works were produced during 
a period of about six years, from 1698 to 1704, and at 
that time Learning had sunk to a very low point in Scot- 
land. Sir George M'Kenzie stands out almost, if not 

1 The date given by Rawlinson is wrong. Fletcher died on the 15th 
of September. 



150 FAMOUS SCOTS 

entirely, alone as a man of Letters during the closing 
years of the seventeenth century ; but his style is turgid, 
and wholly wanting in that quality of simplicity which 
is to be found in everything written by Fletcher. 
Burnet's chief works, with the exception of the History 
of His Own Times, which was not published until after 
his death, appeared before the end of the century ; but 
though a Scotsman, he can hardly be placed in the 
catalogue of purely Scottish writers. Pamphlets and 
sermons there were in abundance, many of them com- 
posed with great skill, and most of them invaluable 
from the light which they throw on the controversies of 
that time; but in point of style Fletcher is unique. 
He had no models. If he had written ten or fifteen 
years later, it might have been supposed that he had 
imitated Addison ; for, especially in the Account of 
a Conversation, the style of Fletcher resembles the 
style of Addison. But he had ceased to write long 
before the Spectator appeared. To Burnet he doubt- 
less owed a sound classical education, and a knowledge 
of political history. The clearness and elegance of his 
style, however, were certainly not learned from Burnet, 
but were evidently the result of studying, very closely, 
the literature of Greece and Rome, from which he loves 
to draw illustrations for the purpose of enforcing his 
own theories of government, and his peculiar political 
schemes. 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 151 

The political schemes of Fletcher may have been 
visionary, but that he honestly believed in them is 
evident. The Utopias which he loved to imagine may 
have been wild dreams, but there was always some- 
thing noble in the ideals which he set up. His faults 
were those of a man of ardent temper. I have not 
attempted to conceal them, and the men of his own 
day, even those who most widely disagreed with him in 
his views on public questions, seem all to admire him, 
with only one or two exceptions. One of these excep- 
tions is Swift, whose description of him is : ' A most 
arrogant, conceited pedant in poHtics ; cannot endure 
any contradiction in any of his views or paradoxes.' 
But a Scotsman was to Swift like a red rag to a bull. 
Oldmixon, too, who knew Fletcher, says, and certainly 
with some truth, that he was ' hot, positive, obstinate, 
opinionative.' Nor does Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik 
seem to have fully appreciated Fletcher. ' He was,' he 
says, *a little untoward in his temper, and much in- 
chned to eloquence. He made many speeches in 
Parliament, which are all printed, but was not very 
dexterous in making extemporary replies. He was, 
however, a very honest man, and meant well in every- 
thing he said and did, except in cases where his 
humour, passion, or prejudice were suffered to get the 
better of his reason.' On another occasion he speaks 
of him as a * worthy man '; but that excellent place- 



152 FAMOUS SCOTS 

man, Sir John Clerk, patting Fletcher of Saltoun on 
the back, is the tame pigeon patronising the eagle. 

But, as against the hostile opinions of Swift and 
Oldmixon, and the lukewarm verdict of Sir John Clerk, 
it would be easy to fill page after page of unstinted 
praise from the writings of men who either knew 
him, or had good opportunities for observing his con- 
duct. Of these I shall quote only two. In Mackay's 
well-known Characters of the Nobility of Scotland^ 
which are said to have been compiled for the private 
use of the Princess Sophia, we have what may be 
called the official opinion of Fletcher. * He is,' says 
Mackay, * a gentleman steady in his principles, of nice 
honour, with abundance of learning ; brave as the 
sword he wears, and bold as a lion. A sure friend, 
but an irreconcilable enemy ; would readily lose his 
life to serve his country, but would not do a base thing 
to save it.' 

The Tory Lockhart, also, in a passage which is too 
long for full quotation, draws the character of Fletcher. 
He tells us how the Laird of Saltoun was master of the 
Latin, Greek, French, and Italian languages, and well 
versed in history and the civil law ; a nice observer 
of all points of honour ; free from all manner of vice ; 
impatient under opposition, but affable in private con- 
versation. 'To sum up all,' says Lockhart, *he was 
2i learned, gallant, honest, and every other way well 



FLETCHER OF SALTOUN 153 

accomplished gentleman ; and if ever a man proposes 
to serve and merit well of his country, let him place 
his courage, zeal, and constancy before him, and 
think himself sufficiently applauded and rewarded by 
obtaining the character of being like Andrew Fletcher 
of Saltoun.' 



INDEX 



Accou7it of a Conversation, 86- 

95. ISO- 
Act of Security, introduced in 
1703. 71. 72 ; debates on, 72-76; 
passed, ']^ ; its chief provisions, 
'jT, 78 ; royal assent refused to, 
78 ; circulated in London, 84 ; 
in 1704, proposal to tack it to a 
Money Bill, 97, 98 ; royal assent 
given to, 99 ; English opinion 
on, 102. 

Addison, Joseph, 150. 

Alien Act, passed, 107 ; effects on 
Scotland, no; resolution against, 
in Scottish Parliament, 127 ; 
hostile clauses of, repealed, 
129. 

Amsterdam, Fletcher joins Mon- 
mouth at, 23 ; Monmouth sails 
from, 26. 

Annandale, Earl of, 40, 62, 108. 

Argyll, Archibald, Earl of, writes 
to Fletcher, 20 ; with Mon- 
mouth at Amsterdam, 24; in- 
vades Scotland, 26; his execu- 
tion, 109. 

John, second Duke of, at the 

opening of the Scottish Parlia- 
ment in May 1703, 63 ; ap- 
pointed High Commissioner, 
108 ; arranges for the dismissal 
of the New Party, in ; breaks 
with Annandale, 112, 113 ; 
threatens to resign, 113; forms 
a Ministry, 114 ; holds a Coun- 
cil, 116 ; supports the Act for a 
Treaty of Union, 116 et seq. ; 



his refusal to act with the 
Jacobites in 1703, 67. 
Ayloffe, 24, 26. 

Baillie of Jerviswoode, 20, 21. 

(his son), 106, 114, 122. 

Ballads, Fletcher's saying as to, 95. 
Belgium, Fletcher in, 21. 
Belhaven, Lord, 95, 123, 135, 136, 

143. 144- 

Bilboa, 26. 

Blenheim, battle of, loi. 

Bridport, 28, 31. 

Bristol, 37. 

British Linen Company, 145. 

Brougham, Lord, 136. 

Bruce, Sir Henry, of Clackman- 
nan, 9. 

Captain, 33, 35. 

Brussels, Argyll at, 20; Andrew 
Fletcher at, 23. 

Boyer, 119. 

Boyle, Lord, 79. 

Buchan, David, Earl of, 12, 13, 
20, 38, 40. 

Burke, Edmund, 136. 

Burnet, Bishop, 9, 10, 11, 12, 21, 
39, 105, 150. 

Buyse, Anthony, 24, 29, 33, 35, 36. 

Calderwood, Mrs., of Polton, 
her anecdote of Fletcher, 21, 22. 

Cameron of Lochiel, 142. 

Carnegie, Margaret, 144 et seq. 

Sir David, of Pittarrow, 144. 

Chamberlen, Hugh, no, 121 etseq. 

Characiers of the Nobility of 
Scotland, Mackay's, 152. 
155 



INDEX 



Chevalier de St. George, 142. 

Clerk, Sir John, of Pennycuik, 35. 

son of the fore- 
going, 95, 151, 152. 

Club, The, 40, 41. 

Cockburn, Adam, of Ormiston, 
13, 40, 60, 114. 

John, younger of Ormiston, 

66, 67. 

Coltness Collection, story of 
Fletcher in, 21, 22, 

Company of Scotland, Trading, 

47, 48. 

Cromartie, Earl of, 86 et seq. 

Cunningham, Alexander (the His- 
torian), 137. 

Dalmahoy, Sir John, 34. 
Dalrymple, Sir James (Viscount 

Stair), 17, 18, 23, 33. 
Sir John (First Earl of Stair), 

47. 

(the Historian), 17,24,47. 

Dare of Taunton, at Amsterdam 
with Monmouth, 24 ; lands in 
England, 26 ; killed by Fletcher, 
29. 

(the younger), 30. 

Darien, 48, 49, 54. 

Defoe, Daniel, 28. 

Discorso di Spagna, 49, 59, 60. 

Discourses on the Affairs of Scot- 
land, 49, 53 et seq. 

Douglas, James, second Marquis 
of, 34- 

Archibald, Marquis of, 63. 

Doyle, Mr. Conan, 24. 

Dumbarton, George, Earl of, 36. 

Dundas of Arniston, 95. 

Dunkirk, expedition from in 1708, 
142. 

Edinburgh University, 12. 
Review, article in, 117. 



Edmonstone of Newton, 142. 

Errol, Lord, 61, 64. 

Erskine, Sir James, 98. 

Essex, his connection with the 

Whig Plot, 20. 
Eugene, Prince of Savoy, 13. 

Ferguson the Plotter, 24, 26, 

27. 39- 
Fletcher, Andrew, birth and early 
days of, 9 ; educated by Burnet, 
10 et seq., 150; goes on the 
Grand Tour, 12 ; is in Parlia- 
ment as member for Hadding- 
tonshire, 13 ; opposes Lauder- 
dale, 14, and accused before the 
Privy Council of obstructing the 
King's service, 15, 16, 18 ; his 
return for Haddingtonshire con- 
tested in 1681, 16; opposes the 
Duke of York, 17 ; goes abroad, 
19 ; his connection with the 
Whig Plot, 20 et seq., 23, 34; 
anecdote of him told by Mrs. 
Calderwood, 22 ; is outlawed, 
23 ; joins Monmouth at Amster- 
dam and sails to England, 23- 
27 ; shoots Dare, 29 ; Lord 
Buchan's erroneous account of 
his reasons for leaving England, 
31 etseq. ; is tried for high treason 
and attainted, 33 et seq. ; the 
estate of Saltoun given to the 
Earl of Dumbarton, 36 ; adven- 
tures in Spain, 37 ; serves in 
Hungary, 38 ; returns to Scot- 
land at the Revolution, 39; 
joins the Club, 40 ; complains 
of the delay in restoring Saltoun, 
45 ; writes to Hamilton, 46 ; his 
connection with Darien, 47, 48 ; 
his political writings, 49 et seq. ; 
plans for a national militia, 49- 
53 ; his account of the poverty 



INDEX 



157 



of Scotland, 55 ; his opinions on 
slavery, 56, 57 ; on high rents, 
58, 59 ; on the Partition Treaty, 
60 ; returned to Parliament in 

1703, 60; speech on the Sup- 
plies, 68 ; proposes Limitations 
on the Crown, 69 et seq. , 80, 81 ; 
attacks the English Ministers, 
72 ; supports the Act of Security, 
71-77 ; denies the power of the 
Sovereign to refuse the royal 
assent, 79 ; publishes his 
speeches, 84 ; An Account of 
a Conversation, 86-94 ; his say- 
ing about ballads, 95 ; about 
an hereditary professor, 95 ; 
speeches in the session of 

1704, 97 et seq.; attacks John- 
ston, 98 ; Sir James Halket, 98 ; 
Hamilton, 100 ; duel with Rox- 
burghe, 121, 122 ; proposes the 
Limitations again, 123 ; moves 
an address against the Alien 
Act, 126 ; attacks Hamilton, 
128 ; his conduct during the 
sessions of 1706-1707, 133-138 ; 
story of his leaving Scotland, 
138 ; arrested in 1708, 142 ; 
reasons for not marrying, 144 ; 
conversations with Wodrow, 
146-148 ; his death, 148 ; his 
place in Scottish literature, 149 ; 
contemporary opinions of his 
character, 151, 152. 

Fletcher, Andrew (Lord Milton), 

148, 149. 
(grand-nephew of the 

patriot), 149. 
Henry(brother of the patriot), 

14, 33, 144, 145, 149. 

-(Lieutenant-General), 149. 



Sir Robert, 9, 10. 

Lady (Catherine Bruce), 9, 



10, II. 



Fletcher, Mrs. Henry (Margaret 

Carnegie), 144, 145. 
Ford Abbey, 28. 
Forfar, Earl of, 63. 
Fountainhall, Lord, 14, 19, 23. 

Glasgow, Earl of, 114. 

Burnet, Professor, at, 12. 

Gloucester, Duke of, 11. 

Godolphin, writes to Athole as 
to the Act of Security, 76 ; 
attacked for advising the Queen 
to give the royal assent, loi, 
102 ; his views about Scotland, 
102; explains the position to 
the House of Lords, 105 ; letters 
to him from Glasgow, Seafield, 
and Annandale, iii, 112. 

Correspondence, in the British 

Museum, 117, note. 

Gordon, Duke of, 142. 

Grand Resolve, The, 69. 

Marquis de, 20. 

Grant, The Laird of, 18. 

Grey, Lord, of Wark, 24, 26, 27. 

Haarlem, Fletcher at, 21. 

Hague, Fletcher at, 39. 

Halifax, Lord, 21, 106, 132. 

Halket, Sir James, 98. 

Hamilton, James, fourth Duke of, 
leads the Country Party, 65, 
66 ; supports Fletcher against 
the Government, 72 ; protests 
against the adjournment of the 
House, 74 ; conduct in the 
session of 1704, 97 et seq.; 
quarrel with Fletcher, 100 ; 
moves that the Queen should 
appoint the Commissioners on 
Union, 128. 

William, Duke of, 14, 45, 

46. 

Hampden, in the Whig Plot, 20. 



iS8 



INDEX 



Hanover, Elector of, 132. 
Haversham, Lord, his speech in 

Scotland, 104. 
Helderenberg, the frigate, 26, 27, 

30. 31. 37- 
Hepburn of Humbie, 16, 
' Hereditary Professor," 95. 
Highlanders, Fletcher's opinion 

of, 54. 57- 
Historical Account of the Rights 

and Powers of the Parliament 

of Scotland, 85, 
Holland, Shaftesbury escapes to, 

20 ; Fletcher visits, 21, 
Howard in the Whig Plot, 20. 
Hume, Sir David, 98, 133, 134. 
Sir Patrick (Earl of March- 

mont), 40. 
Hungary, 38. 
Huntly, Marquis of, 142. 

James il. Letter to the Scottish 
Estates in 1686, 39 ; grants a 
general pardon in 1688, 39. 

Johnston, James, of Warriston, 
46, 47. 95. 108. 

Kerr, Lord Charles, 122. 
Kerridge, John, 37. 

Lauderdale, 13, 14, 34, 36, 

43- 
Law, John, of Lauriston, no, 121 

et seq. 
Lely, Sir Peter, 11. 
Leyden, Andrew Fletcher at, 21 ; 

his nephew at, 148. 
Limitations, the, 69, 70, 71, 79, 

80, 81, 123. 
Lockhart, George, of Carnwath, 

82, 115, 152. 

Sir William, 40. 

Lorraine, Duke of, 38. 
Loudoun, Lord, 23. 



Louis XIV. , 60. 

Lyme, Monmouth at, 27 et seq. 

Mackay, John, 18, 40, 152. 

Mackenzie, Sir George, 33, 149. 

Madrid, Fletcher at, 37. 

Mar, Charles, Earl of, 34. 

John, Earl of, 63. 

Marchmont, Earl of, 114. 

Marischal, Earl (tenth), 33, 37, 38. 

William, (ninth) Earl, 64. 

Matthews, Captain, 24, 25. 

Melville, Lord, 23, 40, 46. 

Micah Clarke, 24. 

Militias, Discourse on, 49 et seq. 

Monmouth, Duke of, in the Whig 
Plot, 20; writes to Fletcher 
from Amsterdam, 23 ; his con- 
fidence in Fletcher, 24 ; his in- 
vasion of England, 25-32 ; tried 
at Edinburgh after his death, 

33- 
Montgomery, Sir James, 40, 
Montrose, fourth Marquis of, 66, 

114. 
Moray of Abercairney, 142. 
Murray, Earl of. Commissioner 

in 1686, 39. 

of Blackbarrony, 15. 

Musgrave, Sir Christopher, 86 et 

seq. 

New Party, The, formed, 95 ; 
dismissed from office, in el seq, 
Nottingham, Earl of, loi, 106. 

OCHTERTYRE MS. , 136, 148. 

Oldmixon, his opinion of Fletcher, 

151. 152. 

Ormiston, Andrew Cockburn of, 
13, 16. 

Paris, Fletcher at, in October 
1683, 21. 



INDEX 



159 



Paris, Fletcher at, in 1716, 148. 
Partition Treaty, 60. 
Paterson, Bishop, 16. 

WilUam, 47. 

Pitcairn, Dr., 95. 
Polton, Mrs. Calderwood of, 21. 
Preston, Viscount, 21. 
Prideaux, Edmund, 28. 

QUEENSBERRY, Duke of, 6i, 67, 
72, 78, 79 et seq. ; adjourns 
the Parliament, 84, 95 et seq., 
114. 

Ramsay, General, 62. 

Rawlinson, Thomas, MS. at Ox- 
ford, 148. 

Rochester, Earl of, 106. 

Ross, Lord, 40. 

Rothes, Earl of, 66, 72, 73, 95, 
114. 

Roxburghe, Duke of, 7j, 95, 106, 
114, 122. 

Earl of, 66. 

Rumbold, 24, 26, 

Russell, his connection with the 
Whig Plot, 20. 

Rye-House Plot, 21, 24, 34. 

Ryswick, Peace of, 49, 



Sacheverell, 146. 

Saltoun, Living of, presented to 
Burnet, 9 ; library at, 10, 11 ; 
Burnet leaves, 12 ; estate of, 
forfeited, 36 ; restored after the 
Revolution, 46 ; Lord Milton 
succeeds to, 149 ; Saltoun Hall, 
portrait of Lady Fletcher at, 
II ; memorial tablet at, 149 ; 
Barley Mill, 145. 

Scots Plot, 95, 117. 

Seafield, Earl of, Lord Chancel- I 



lor, 62; adjourns the House 
suddenly, 74, 108, 114. 

Security, Act of. See Act. 

Sedgemoor, battle of, 33. 

Seymour, Sir Edward, 88 et seq. 

Shaftesbury, 20. 

Sidney, Algernon, his connection 
with the Whig Plot, 20. 

Sinclair of Stevenston, 15, 40. 

Slavery, Fletcher on, 56, 57, 58. 

Somers, opinion of the situation 
in 1704, 103, 106. 

proposes legislation, 107. 

State Tracts, 117. 

Somerville of Drum, 35. 

Spectator, The, 95, 150. 

Speech without-doors concerning 
Toleration, 85. 

Speech on the State of the Nation, 
49. 60. 

Spittal of Leuchat, 136. 

Squadrone Volante, The, 114, 
118, 137. 

Stair family. The, 113. 

Stair, first Earl of, 123, 124, 134. 

State of the Controversy betwixt 
United and Separate Parlia- 
ments, 132. 

Stewart, Sir James, Lord Advo- 
cate, 47, 75, 115. 

StirUng of Keir, 142. 

Sunderland, 146. 

Suttie, Sir George, of Balgonie, 
66. 

Swift, Dean, his opinion of 
Fletcher, 151, 152. 

Tarbat (first Earl of Cromartie), 

62. 
Tatler, The, 95. 
Taunton, 27, 28, 32. 
Texel, The, 26, 27. 
Titus Gates, 39. 
Tolemache, William, 14. 



i6o 



INDEX 



Torphichen, Lord, 35. 
TuUibardine (afterwards Duke 

of Athole), 62. 

(Duke of Athole), 'jS. 

Tweeddale, Marquis of, 47, 66, 

67, 95 ct seq., 108 et sea., 114 

et seq. 

Union, Act for a Treaty brought 
into the Scottish Parliament, 
119 ; passed, 128. 

Commission on, at West- 
minster, 129 et seq. ; Treaty of, 
signed, 131 ; approved by Scot- 
tish Parliament, 137. 

VULPONE, 117, 



Wade, 24, 26. 
Wedderburn of Gosford, 16. 
Westminster, Treaty of Union 

signed at, 131. 
Whig Plot, 21, 23, 34. 
Whitehall, 86. 
William ill. lands in England, 

39 ; Fletcher's distrust of, 60 ; 

refusal of royal assent to Acts 

of Scottish Parliament, 78. 
Williams, William, servant to 

Monmouth, 23, 35, 
Wodrow, his conversations with 

Fletcher, 146, 147. 

Yester, Lord, 16. 
York, Duke of (James 11.), 16, 
17, 18, 20. 



